The tradition of the Würzburg - Mwanza partnership goes back to the 1960ies. Starting from a city partnership, the cooperation has constantly expanded. Today it involves hospitals, universities and the city governments, and covers multiple areas. It includes research projects, exchange programs, joint efforts for climate protection and cooperation in postgraduate clinical education. Going beyond Mwanza’s city borders, a community-focussed program to fight schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease affecting > 70% of people around Lake Victoria was implemented. 

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Until the foundation of the Else Kröner Center Würzburg-Mwanza, all these activities were dependent on individual commitment and short-term external funding. Synergistic effects between different initiatives remained largely unexploited and long-term strategic development was hardly possible. Therefore, the EKC was established as a sustainable structure to develop the cooperation between Mwanza and Würzburg to the next level.

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The Center does not only unite current activities, but also expands existing efforts, including a structured exchange program at different levels, a bilateral study curriculum, joint research projects, and improvement of hospital- and community-based medical care. In combining these approaches with improved education and training of young academics and clinicians and a professional management, the Else Kröner Center will have a long-term positive effect on medical care in Mwanza and Victoria Lake Zone at large.

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