Female headed homes on the increase
Sunday, 31st May, 2009 from NEW VISION
THE number of female-headed households has increased to 30%, up from 27% in 2007, a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics has indicated. The majority of female headed households are in the central region at 35%, with the bulk of them in Kampala. Western region follows at 28% and Eastern region at 26%. The study also said northern Uganda was leading the rest of the country in polygamy. The survey on gender and productivity, commissioned by the Prime Minister’s office, indicated that even in male-headed households, men were abdicating their duties. It revealed that when the men realise that their wives are making some money, they divert theirs to mistresses or other things that are not shared by the family. The objective of the survey was to assess progress made towards gender equality in various development areas. The study, carried out between November 2007 and February 2008, covered 4,291 households. It used questionnaires on assets ownership, health, roles in decision making and domestic violence. The results were released last week at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala to district leaders. Less than 10 MPs attended. The report said unequal gender relations were increasing poverty. “Women’s economic opportunities are constrained by low social status, lack of ownership of productive resources, a heavy workload and limited participation in decision making at household and community level,” the report said. It also said women faced constraints when operating within their home or venturing into private enterprise. It pointed at recent World Bank assessments, noting that female enterprises were twice more likely to get interference from the local government. The report further said domestic violence was widespread, which it attributed to the long history of bias against women. It said about 61% of married women had experienced physical violence within their homes, while 31% experienced violence in the last 12 months. Domestic violence is seen as one of the key stumbling blocks to the control of HIV/AIDS in Uganda, the study said. It said because of the persistent low social status, women had no control over their reproductive health. This, the report added, impacted on their economic productivity. “The high fertility rates are due to the fact that many women cannot decide when or how many children to have,” it said. The report also pointed out that many girls were dropping out of school, despite the universal primary and secondary education programme. It said parents were pulling their daughters out of school to marry them off or to force them into domestic work. Some drop out because they are defiled and impregnated by teachers, while others stop studying because their parents cannot afford the little money needed. Even in the Universal Primary Education schools, parents have to pay up to sh18,000, according to the report. The participants called for the creation of a Girl-child Trust to stop girls from dropping out of school.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
NEWS: HIV/AIDS-A widow’s struggle to care for orphans affected by the disease
HIV/AIDS-A widow’s struggle to care for orphans affected by the disease
Sunday, 24th May, 2009 from NEW VISION
Odongpiny (left) and her grandchildren at their new latrine. Neighbours would not let them use their latrines because they are HIV-positive
SOME of the stories told about the burdens some families are bearing as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, may sound hard to believe. Despite the efforts of the Government and non governmental organisations to support people living with HIV/AIDS, the burden is still heavy. One of the greatest challenges facing people living with HIV/AIDS is discrimination and stigmatisation. This has been the case for 66-year-old Mego Rose Odongpiny who contracted HIV while attending to her sick children. A resident of Layibi A and B village in Pece Division, Gulu Municipality, Odongpiny lost seven of her eight children to HIV/AIDS. Her husband died of natural causes and she is now left to care for her 14 orphaned grandchildren. “As I attended to my children, I was advised by health workers to test for HIV and was found positive. Since then, I have been taking care of my grandchildren, seven of whom are infected with HIV. There was no one to help me and our neighbours discriminated against us,” she says. Odongpiny sought help beyond her neighbourhood, but even there her efforts were futile. “I used to move to the offices of several NGOs working in Gulu but all I returned home with were promises that were never fulfiled. There was not a single follow-up on any of my requests for assistance. None of the organisations took the initiative,” she says as tears roll down her cheeks. It was not until Odongpiny approached Health Alert Uganda (HAU) that she was able to find help. She is now the beneficiary of a sh1.3m pit latrine from the organisation which also provides medical care for her HIV-positive grandchildren. The two-stance pit latrine was constructed with funds from Health Alert Uganda, Gulu Youth Centre and Save the Children in Uganda. It was recently handed over to Odongpiny at her home in Pece Division. Odongpiny says: “I am pleased with the contribution of the NGOs because my children used to ease themselves in the bush. The neighbours would stop the children from using their latrines because they have HIV/AIDS.” The advocacy officer of HAU, Francis Obutu, said the NGOs were fulfiling their social corporate responsibility by contributing towards the wellbeing of Odongpiny and her family. The Pece Division LC3 chairman, Geoffrey Otim, contributed sh100,000 as capital for Odongpiny to set up a small business. He said no one should be discriminated against for being HIV-positive.
Sunday, 24th May, 2009 from NEW VISION
Odongpiny (left) and her grandchildren at their new latrine. Neighbours would not let them use their latrines because they are HIV-positive SOME of the stories told about the burdens some families are bearing as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, may sound hard to believe. Despite the efforts of the Government and non governmental organisations to support people living with HIV/AIDS, the burden is still heavy. One of the greatest challenges facing people living with HIV/AIDS is discrimination and stigmatisation. This has been the case for 66-year-old Mego Rose Odongpiny who contracted HIV while attending to her sick children. A resident of Layibi A and B village in Pece Division, Gulu Municipality, Odongpiny lost seven of her eight children to HIV/AIDS. Her husband died of natural causes and she is now left to care for her 14 orphaned grandchildren. “As I attended to my children, I was advised by health workers to test for HIV and was found positive. Since then, I have been taking care of my grandchildren, seven of whom are infected with HIV. There was no one to help me and our neighbours discriminated against us,” she says. Odongpiny sought help beyond her neighbourhood, but even there her efforts were futile. “I used to move to the offices of several NGOs working in Gulu but all I returned home with were promises that were never fulfiled. There was not a single follow-up on any of my requests for assistance. None of the organisations took the initiative,” she says as tears roll down her cheeks. It was not until Odongpiny approached Health Alert Uganda (HAU) that she was able to find help. She is now the beneficiary of a sh1.3m pit latrine from the organisation which also provides medical care for her HIV-positive grandchildren. The two-stance pit latrine was constructed with funds from Health Alert Uganda, Gulu Youth Centre and Save the Children in Uganda. It was recently handed over to Odongpiny at her home in Pece Division. Odongpiny says: “I am pleased with the contribution of the NGOs because my children used to ease themselves in the bush. The neighbours would stop the children from using their latrines because they have HIV/AIDS.” The advocacy officer of HAU, Francis Obutu, said the NGOs were fulfiling their social corporate responsibility by contributing towards the wellbeing of Odongpiny and her family. The Pece Division LC3 chairman, Geoffrey Otim, contributed sh100,000 as capital for Odongpiny to set up a small business. He said no one should be discriminated against for being HIV-positive.
NEWS: Somali crisis a genocide, says President Museveni
Somali crisis a genocide, says President Museveni
Tuesday, 26th May, 2009 from NEW VISION online
The UN secretary general’s special representative to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, inspects a guard of honour mounted by Ugandan troops in Mogadishu on Monday. Abdallah was in Somalia to morale boost the peace-keepers
President Yoweri Museveni has described the situation in Somalia, where hard-line Islamists are battling the transitional Government, as genocide. “This is a type of genocide. Genocide does not have to be overnight. You can have slow genocide. Why should Africans suffer like this?” the President said. He was addressing guests at Serena Hotel on Monday at a function to mark the 46th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union). Clashes between the insurgents and government troops have left at least 200 people dead since the beginning of May and displaced another 60,000 people. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist elected by a unity government in January, says radical al-Shabab fighters, accused of having links to al-Qaeda, have in their ranks foreigners who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have contributed soldiers to the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, forming a force of 4,300, far short of the 8,000 troops needed. Museveni named Somalia and Darfur as the only conflicts remaining in Africa, noting that the AU is addressing it with the urgency and seriousness it deserves. “At a political level, progress has been made in the area of continental peace and security, through our Peace and Security Council. Africa is increasingly taking responsibility with regard to the remaining parts on the continent,” he said. He cited the peace efforts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Burundi, and the current efforts in Darfur and Somalia, as a demonstration of the resolve by African leaders to solve their own problems. Museveni, however, pointed that the continent still faces economic challenges that should be addressed if the continent is to achieve the Millennium Develop Goals. “Challenges remain on the economic front, especially the roads, the railway and electricity”, he noted. “In the last 45 years, except for South Africa and Mauritius, no African country has transited from the Third World to the First World.” Richard Kabonero, the dean of the African diplomatic corps, cited piracy and terrorism as the greatest threat to African’s peace and stability. He appealed to Africa and the international community to find a lasting solution to the chaos in Somalia with a view of eradicating the potential terrorism threat in the Gulf of Aden. “Uganda and Burundi have contributed positively. However, much more should have been achieved if the mandate and size of the peacekeeping force were addressed,” he noted. On the political front, Kabonero reported that the AU had suspended Madagascar, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea Conakry following recent coups in those countries. Meanwhile, a senior Government official has said Uganda has no intention of withdrawing its troops from Somalia. “The AU mission has no plan to withdraw. We have played a positive role. We would want to see that built on rather than dismantled,” Ambassador James Mugume, the foreign affairs permanent secretary, told journalists yesterday during the induction workshop for new Ugandan ambassadors. Uganda last week announced it will soon send another contingent to Mogadishu to replace the ones who are there.
Tuesday, 26th May, 2009 from NEW VISION online
The UN secretary general’s special representative to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, inspects a guard of honour mounted by Ugandan troops in Mogadishu on Monday. Abdallah was in Somalia to morale boost the peace-keepers
President Yoweri Museveni has described the situation in Somalia, where hard-line Islamists are battling the transitional Government, as genocide. “This is a type of genocide. Genocide does not have to be overnight. You can have slow genocide. Why should Africans suffer like this?” the President said. He was addressing guests at Serena Hotel on Monday at a function to mark the 46th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union). Clashes between the insurgents and government troops have left at least 200 people dead since the beginning of May and displaced another 60,000 people. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist elected by a unity government in January, says radical al-Shabab fighters, accused of having links to al-Qaeda, have in their ranks foreigners who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have contributed soldiers to the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, forming a force of 4,300, far short of the 8,000 troops needed. Museveni named Somalia and Darfur as the only conflicts remaining in Africa, noting that the AU is addressing it with the urgency and seriousness it deserves. “At a political level, progress has been made in the area of continental peace and security, through our Peace and Security Council. Africa is increasingly taking responsibility with regard to the remaining parts on the continent,” he said. He cited the peace efforts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Burundi, and the current efforts in Darfur and Somalia, as a demonstration of the resolve by African leaders to solve their own problems. Museveni, however, pointed that the continent still faces economic challenges that should be addressed if the continent is to achieve the Millennium Develop Goals. “Challenges remain on the economic front, especially the roads, the railway and electricity”, he noted. “In the last 45 years, except for South Africa and Mauritius, no African country has transited from the Third World to the First World.” Richard Kabonero, the dean of the African diplomatic corps, cited piracy and terrorism as the greatest threat to African’s peace and stability. He appealed to Africa and the international community to find a lasting solution to the chaos in Somalia with a view of eradicating the potential terrorism threat in the Gulf of Aden. “Uganda and Burundi have contributed positively. However, much more should have been achieved if the mandate and size of the peacekeeping force were addressed,” he noted. On the political front, Kabonero reported that the AU had suspended Madagascar, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea Conakry following recent coups in those countries. Meanwhile, a senior Government official has said Uganda has no intention of withdrawing its troops from Somalia. “The AU mission has no plan to withdraw. We have played a positive role. We would want to see that built on rather than dismantled,” Ambassador James Mugume, the foreign affairs permanent secretary, told journalists yesterday during the induction workshop for new Ugandan ambassadors. Uganda last week announced it will soon send another contingent to Mogadishu to replace the ones who are there.
Friday, May 22, 2009
PICTURES: THE FACES OF UGANDA
I thought I would take a break from all the news, etc and share a couple of my favorite people shots from our recent trip to Kiburara. More to follow.......(please feel free to send me yours to share)
Monday, May 18, 2009
RESOURCES: Rwanda revisited
As I was walking home from work last night in the cool air of May, I couldn't help but think that 15 years ago on this very night there was a genocide happening in Africa the likes of which had not been seen in the world since the Holocaust. Since returning from Uganda, I have been intensely interested in Africa's history, culture, and politics. (Followers of this blog will see that is true..in fact, I find myself more interested in Ugandan news than the local news) It was inevitable that I would find myself reading about the spring days of 1994 in Rwanda when 800,000 people were killed in 100 days. It is a regrettable part of African history and even Uganda is a player upon the stage. The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF ) was formed in 1987 by the Tutsi refugee diaspora in Uganda . The first Tutsi refugees fled to Uganda to escape ethnic purges beginning 1959. It was from there "base" in Uganda that a majority of the RPF led their assault on the Hutu militias ending the genocide, but not after hundreds of thousands lay dead across the Rwandan countryside. Sadly, some of the only real aid that the US sent during this time was to Uganda to help dispose of the nearly 10,000 bodies that washed up on the shores of Lake Victoria after being dumped in the Nyabarongo River. This graphically tragic part of African history has many stories to tell and lessons to learn. One is left wondering how this could have happened?....why there was silence from the Western world?...what were the sociopolitical warning signs that could have served as red flags?...what could one have done? While in the bloody aftermath, President Bill Clinton and others in the US and United Nations recognized their failure to act and warned that this must never happen again, one does not have to look too far from the borders of Rwanda to see that genocide is happening again and we are left with the same questions. Are we still silent?
- Patrick
Some resources I have found interesting and compelling on the subject:
BOOK: WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES by Philip Gourevitch
Written by a New York Times contributing editor who visited Rwanda shortly after the genocide, Gourevitch has written a tremendous account. Through personal stories that he collected from survivors and perpetrators alike, he brings us back to those dark days in 1994 to give an impassioned and informed account. Gourevitch takes us back to the very beginnings of the ethnic history and we see the progression of thought and action that led to nothing short of an extermination. The writing is compelling and has been called "among the best examples of the journalism of moral witness".
BOOK: LEFT TO TELL: DISCOVERING GOD AMIDST THE RWANDAN HOLOCAUST by Immaculee Ilibagiza
"In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza's remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God. " from Publisher's Weekly
FILM: HOTEL RWANDA
Hotel Rwanda is a 2004 historical drama film about the hotelier Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. The film, which has been called an African Schindler's List, documents Rusesabagina's acts to save the lives of his family and more than a thousand other refugees, by granting them shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. Directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, the film was co-produced by US, British, Italian, and South African companies, with filming done on location in Johannesburg, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda. As an independent film it had an initial limited release in theaters, but was nominated for multiple awards, including Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. It continues to be one of the most-rented films on services such as Netflix, and is listed by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 most inspirational movies of all time. The makers of this tremendous story went to great lengths to recount Rusesabagina's actions during the genocide as factual and historically accurate. A moving story which leaves you with 2 questions...what would you have done?...and more importantly, what will you do?
(RATED PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief strong language)
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FILM: SOMETIMES IN APRIL
Written and directed by Raoul Peck, this movie is the first large-scale film about the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to be shot in Rwanda, in the locations where the real-life events transpired. A chilling reminder of man's incomprehensible capacity for cruelty, Sometimes in April is an epic story of courage in the face of daunting odds, as well as an exposé of the West's inaction as nearly a million Rwandans were being killed. The plot focuses on two brothers embroiled in the 1994 conflict between the Hutu majority (who had ruled Rwanda since 1959) and the Tutsi minority who had received favored treatment when the country was ruled by Belgium. The protagonists (both Hutus) are reluctant soldier Augustin Muganza (Idris Elba), married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuero), a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda. The drama is set in two periods, which unfold concurrently: In April 1994, after the Hutu Army begins a systematic slaughter of Tutsis and in April 2004, where Augustin is looking for closure and hoping to start a new life. Though a fictional story, it is wrapped around authentic events and interspersed with real news and press conference footage from that time.
-
(RATED TV-MA for graphic violence, disturbing images, adult subject matter and brief language)
- Patrick
Some resources I have found interesting and compelling on the subject:
BOOK: WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES by Philip GourevitchWritten by a New York Times contributing editor who visited Rwanda shortly after the genocide, Gourevitch has written a tremendous account. Through personal stories that he collected from survivors and perpetrators alike, he brings us back to those dark days in 1994 to give an impassioned and informed account. Gourevitch takes us back to the very beginnings of the ethnic history and we see the progression of thought and action that led to nothing short of an extermination. The writing is compelling and has been called "among the best examples of the journalism of moral witness".
BOOK: LEFT TO TELL: DISCOVERING GOD AMIDST THE RWANDAN HOLOCAUST by Immaculee Ilibagiza"In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza's remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God. " from Publisher's Weekly
FILM: HOTEL RWANDAHotel Rwanda is a 2004 historical drama film about the hotelier Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. The film, which has been called an African Schindler's List, documents Rusesabagina's acts to save the lives of his family and more than a thousand other refugees, by granting them shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. Directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, the film was co-produced by US, British, Italian, and South African companies, with filming done on location in Johannesburg, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda. As an independent film it had an initial limited release in theaters, but was nominated for multiple awards, including Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. It continues to be one of the most-rented films on services such as Netflix, and is listed by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 most inspirational movies of all time. The makers of this tremendous story went to great lengths to recount Rusesabagina's actions during the genocide as factual and historically accurate. A moving story which leaves you with 2 questions...what would you have done?...and more importantly, what will you do?
(RATED PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief strong language)
-
FILM: SOMETIMES IN APRILWritten and directed by Raoul Peck, this movie is the first large-scale film about the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to be shot in Rwanda, in the locations where the real-life events transpired. A chilling reminder of man's incomprehensible capacity for cruelty, Sometimes in April is an epic story of courage in the face of daunting odds, as well as an exposé of the West's inaction as nearly a million Rwandans were being killed. The plot focuses on two brothers embroiled in the 1994 conflict between the Hutu majority (who had ruled Rwanda since 1959) and the Tutsi minority who had received favored treatment when the country was ruled by Belgium. The protagonists (both Hutus) are reluctant soldier Augustin Muganza (Idris Elba), married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuero), a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda. The drama is set in two periods, which unfold concurrently: In April 1994, after the Hutu Army begins a systematic slaughter of Tutsis and in April 2004, where Augustin is looking for closure and hoping to start a new life. Though a fictional story, it is wrapped around authentic events and interspersed with real news and press conference footage from that time.
-
(RATED TV-MA for graphic violence, disturbing images, adult subject matter and brief language)
FILM: BEYOND THE GATES (aka SHOOTING DOGS)The most recent and arguably the most emotionally powerful of the films pertaining to the 1994 genocide. The film was made with the help of survivors and filmed in the very locales where the story takes place giving it an unbeleivably realistic feel. "A powerfully moving rendering of the horrific genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994, Beyond the Gates is the story of the Ecole Technique Officielle (ETO), a school run by Europeans and protected by the forces of the United Nations. Overseen by a spiritual, world-weary Catholic priest Father Christopher (John Hurt) and taught by an idealistic, naive young teacher Joe (Hugh Dancy), students and refugees alike perceive the ETO to be a safe haven of learning and love, where backgrounds and circumstances matter little and where humanitarian efforts are positively affecting the lives of the Rwandan people. When tensions between the Hutu and Tsutsi people of Rwanda escalate, father Christopher, teacher Joe, and Capitaine Delon (Dominique Horwitz), commander of the United Nation forces based at the ETO, find themselves thrust into the role of protecting a huge mass of Tsutsi refugees from certain massacre at the hands of the incensed Hutu population. Constrained by orders from the U.N. to "monitor" rather than "enforce" the peace in Rwanda, U.N. military forces are powerless to act against the mounting violence outside the school's gates and it quickly becomes evident to Father Christopher and Joe that they and the Rwandans depending on their protection are in extreme danger. In the end, both men are forced to choose between their humanitarian resolve and the preservation of their very lives. A microcosm of the extensive genocide that was carried out throughout Rwanda from April through June in 1994, the story of the ETO highlights to the larger world the ineffective and arguably destructive role that the Western World played in the Rwandan genocide. The film's immense power stems from stellar performances by John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, and Claire-Hope Ashitey (Marie) as well as exceptional writing by David Wolstencroft and impassioned story telling by director Michael Caton-Jones. Filming on location in Rwanda adds an added layer of authenticity to the film as does the inclusion of Rwandan survivors in various on- and off-screen roles. " - AMAZON REVIEWS
(Rated R for strong violence and disturbing images)
NEWS: Iran to fund oil processing in Uganda
Iran to fund oil processing in Uganda
Sunday, 17th May, 2009 from NEW VISION
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Museveni inspect a guard of honour. Museveni was in Iran on a three-day state visit
Sunday, 17th May, 2009 from NEW VISION
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Museveni inspect a guard of honour. Museveni was in Iran on a three-day state visit
IRAN has agreed to fund the entire value chain of Uganda’s oil production. Iran will also jointly fund the construction of an oil refinery in Uganda. The agreement was reached during President Yoweri Museveni’s three-day visit to Iran, where he held talk with his counterpart, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and addressed the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines. A communiqué issued at the end of the visit said the two countries will also expand co-operation in agriculture, especially agro-processing, investment, energy, mining, industry, vocational training, air transport, banking, ICT, public security and foreign relations. The two presidents re-affirmed their commitment to strengthen relations between their countries. “Regarding the field of energy in particular, the two leaders agreed to consider co-operation in building an oil refinery in Uganda. "On its part, Iran agreed to train Ugandans in its University of Petroleum Studies and other institutions in Iran in the relevant fields of petroleum,” a statement issued by State House said. “Iran also expressed its readiness to invest in the entire value chain of Uganda’s petroleum industry.” Uganda’s discovered oil resource in the Lake Albertine Graben is so far estimated at 600 million barrels of oil. Iran also expressed willingness to consider Uganda’s request for the supply of fuel for Uganda’s thermal power plant, while President Ahmadinejad accepted Museveni’s invitation to visit Uganda. They agreed to co-operate in production, processing and marketing of agro-products as well as in agricultural mechanisation. The two nations would also curve out a free trade zone. On international affairs, the Presidents reviewed the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa. They reiterated their commitment to disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. “They also re-affirmed the right of developing countries to develop nuclear energy for peaceful (development) purposes.” At a news conference later, Museveni observed that relations between Uganda and Iran have been excellent over the past 30 years. Ahmadinejad said Iran would ensure there are no obstacles in its bi-lateral trade with Uganda. The President, who returns today, was accompanied by ministers for trade and industry, ICT, energy and minerals and international affairs.
NEWS: Activists want HIV/AIDS Bill changed
Activists want HIV/AIDS Bill changed
Sunday, 17th May, 2009 from NEW VISION
HUMAN rights activists have called for the review of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Bill. The activists said the Bill did not recognise the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS, which the Government says is intended to curb the high prevalence rate. If passed, persons found guilty of intentional transmission of the virus face up to two years imprisonment. Prof. Oloka Onyango, the director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre, Makerere University, on Friday said it was important for the Government to consider the link between the law and human rights in the fight against AIDS. Onyango was speaking at the closure of a workshop on law, human rights and HIV/AIDS at Makerere University. The workshop was attended by lawyers, activists and other persons involved in HIV/AIDS advocacy from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. “The Bill criminalises HIV transmission, yet only about 10% of the population knows their status. If the majority is unaware of their status, how can you criminalise transmission?” Onyango asked. He said the activists would write to Parliament to incorporate human rights in the Bill. Onyango said the move would enable Parliament make changes to the Bill before it is passed into law. State Attorney Ayebare Tumwebaze noted that it was difficult to prove whether the offender was aware of his or her status before transmission. He said doctors and health workers risked breaching confidentiality, if they were required to reveal the offender’s status. “Besides, how do you prove who transmitted to whom? These relationships take place in secret,” he said. The Open Society Initiative for East Africa health and rights programme officer, Christine Munduru, said the Bill should have been discussed by various people before it reached Parliament. She said if passed, it would victimise mothers because they would be blamed for intentionally infecting their children.
Sunday, 17th May, 2009 from NEW VISION
HUMAN rights activists have called for the review of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Bill. The activists said the Bill did not recognise the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS, which the Government says is intended to curb the high prevalence rate. If passed, persons found guilty of intentional transmission of the virus face up to two years imprisonment. Prof. Oloka Onyango, the director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre, Makerere University, on Friday said it was important for the Government to consider the link between the law and human rights in the fight against AIDS. Onyango was speaking at the closure of a workshop on law, human rights and HIV/AIDS at Makerere University. The workshop was attended by lawyers, activists and other persons involved in HIV/AIDS advocacy from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. “The Bill criminalises HIV transmission, yet only about 10% of the population knows their status. If the majority is unaware of their status, how can you criminalise transmission?” Onyango asked. He said the activists would write to Parliament to incorporate human rights in the Bill. Onyango said the move would enable Parliament make changes to the Bill before it is passed into law. State Attorney Ayebare Tumwebaze noted that it was difficult to prove whether the offender was aware of his or her status before transmission. He said doctors and health workers risked breaching confidentiality, if they were required to reveal the offender’s status. “Besides, how do you prove who transmitted to whom? These relationships take place in secret,” he said. The Open Society Initiative for East Africa health and rights programme officer, Christine Munduru, said the Bill should have been discussed by various people before it reached Parliament. She said if passed, it would victimise mothers because they would be blamed for intentionally infecting their children.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
NEWS: Hunger pushes Teso residents to extreme ends as food becomes 'gold'
Hunger pushes Teso residents to extreme ends as food becomes 'gold'
Saturday, MAY 16, 2009 from MONITOR ONLINE
The recent past has seen the media reporting about the severe food shortage in many parts of the eastern region. Saturday Monitor's Evelyn Lirri visited Teso sub-region and brings you the appalling situation as residents reportedly survive on mangoes and porridge.
In the midday sun, 70-year-old Peter Oduluse lies quietly on a ragged cloth, spread under a mango tree in the compound of his home. He moves his frail body from side to side as he labours to breathe. He can neither sit nor stand. The contours of his rib cage are outlined through his emaciated body. He is not sick. He is just starved, having gone for several days without a solid meal.“I haven’t eaten in weeks. I have been depending on porridge which my daughter brings here everyday,” Mr Oduluse says.
Although it is already 12:40p.m. when we arrive at Mzee Oduluse’s home in Amucu parish, Asamuku Sub-county in Amuria District on Sunday May 10, even the porridge that he relies on has not been brought.Mr Oduluse, who says he was once a successful farmer before the floods of 2007 destroyed all his crops, now depends on his daughter and sometimes, the goodwill of neighbours.If the porridge does not come, Mr Oduluse will spend yet another night on an empty stomach.
Just a few metres away from his house, Ms Elizabeth Akello sits in a pensive mood under the shade of her grass-thatched mud house, contemplating her next move.The day has not been good for her as she does not know where she will get food to feed her 10 children.
DAY'S BITE: Children having mangoes for lunch in Amuria District. PHOTOS BY EVELYN LIRRI
She woke up early in the morning to wander through the wild for any edible green leaves to cook for her children but did not find anything this time round.She says her children will now have to take porridge for supper. “They can survive on mangoes during the day. There are plenty of them on the trees. We shall have porridge for supper tonight,” Ms Akello said.
But the mangoes are getting scarce by the day, spelling more disaster for many of the children who have been relying on it for survival.Two years ago, Ms Akello planted cassava but the floods washed away everything. This year, she has tried her hand at it again but the prolonged drought has affected the cassava once again.“If this drought continues, my children are going to die of hunger. I have nothing to give them,” she says, almost resigned to her fate.
The accounts of Mr Oduluse and Ms Akello are replicated in several parts of east and northern Uganda where famine is looming. Survival for many people in Teso sub-region has become a nightmare now that food is scarce. After being hit in 2007 by floods that destroyed most crops and a prolonged drought that devoured anything remaining after that, the region which used to have abundant food has plunged into famine, leaving thousands of people vulnerable to hunger and starvation.
A Saturday Monitor survey of various areas in the districts of Amuria and Katakwi, two of about eight of the districts across West Nile, northern and north-eastern regions which are facing serious food shortages, revealed firsthand accounts of the magnitude of the current food crisis. Other districts affected are Moyo, Adjumani, Arua, Abim, Moroto, Kotido and Busia.
In Abim, in north-eastern Uganda, the district speaker, Mr Godfrey Okello, reported a case of a 46-year-old woman, Lina Awili from Angiro village who died on May 4 after going for several days without food.
In Ogoria village, Ongogoja Sub-county in Katakwi, residents said a 65-year-old woman, Lucy Angura died of hunger-related causes in early April.Ongogoja is one of the worst hit areas by the famine in Katakwi.Here the famine has taken its toll mostly on women, children and the elderly as they are more vulnerable to hunger and starvation.
Scenes of children with bloated stomachs feasting on mangoes are common in the villages. With no food, that is the only way many of them can beat the hunger.“We only have supper these days. So during the day, we eat mangoes only,’’ said five year old Idd Eyumu, who lives with his grandmother. Ms Matilda Atim, in Ococo parish, Ogoria village in Ongonja Sub-county, who says she does not know her age, but looks over 70, is staying alive against all odds.In front of her was a saucepan full of mangoes that she was feasting on.“This is what I have got, my daughter. There’s no food and the mangoes have been my only saviour, she said.
Mr Godfrey Oluka displays a squirrel after a successful hunt in Kumi on Wednesday.
Ms Atim, who lost all her children and husband to rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army, said when the mangoes finally get finished, she might starve to death. “I have no children who can give me food. All I have is that cassava which is dying,’’she said pointing to the backyard of her house where she has a small field of cassava and beans.
The days when she can manage to get a meal, only once a day, is a good day.When asked, the LCIII chairperson for Kuju Sub-county in Amuria, Mr Richard Epulu, said the prolonged drought has not allowed people to plant on time, while what had already been planted is rotting in the ground.“As we talk now, this should have been the first season when farmers should be planting but its dry. The rains should have come in early March but this has not been the case and yet we expect a dry spell from June. How are farmers going to cope?” he asked.
He said many families are finding it hard to have three meals a day. According to Mr Epulu, the last time the area suffered a major famine was in 1999 after a prolonged drought that resulted into a poor harvest.“People in Teso are active but the weather has not been favourable for us and we have now been reduced to beggars. We need the government to come in with some relief aid as we wait for the few crops in the garden to mature,” Mr Epulu said.
According to him, cassava is the only staple food that can be harvested in the early rainy season when hunger is acute, but an outbreak in 2008, of the cassava brown streak disease has destroyed the root tubers, worsening the situation. “You see the cassava lying in the ground but when you uproot, you don’t find any tubers. It is just disappointing,” he explained.
Even in cases where the food is available, Mr Peter Ipwoka, the LCI chairperson Osepai village, Asamuku Sub-county in Amuria said it has become expensive for majority of the people to afford.“A basin of cassava which used to go for Shs5,000 is now Shs12,000. Many families are living on less than Shs2,000 every day, how can they afford to buy the cassava?” he asked.
Mr Ipwoka said a kilogramme of beans has also jumped from Shs800 to Shs1,500, far beyond what ordinary villagers can afford.Emergency relief food, Mr Ipwoka said will be required to keep people going in the event that the famine continues.
The State Minister for Disaster Preparedness, Mr Musa Ecweru, said his ministry is aware of the situation, revealing that Shs1.9 billion has been earmarked to address the crisis. He said maize and bean seeds, as well as cassava stems will be distributed to households in the affected areas.
For Samson Iliat, all hope is now in the groundnuts he has just planted. The sky opened up to deliver its heaviest rains in over two months in Katakwi District on the night of Sunday. Mr Iliat was in his garden in Odom village, Usuk Sub-county busy planting groundnuts.
Until recently, the 70-year-old mostly engaged in growing maize, beans and rice. But because most of these crops are highly dependant on good reliable rains and soils, they haven’t been much of a priority for him and many other farmers in the region. He is now trying to plant groundnuts. Last year, he planted one-and-a-half acres of maize and hoped he would get four bags of 100kg each but to his disappointment he got only one.Mr Iliat prepared his garden as early as March but the rains did not come. Now with the onset of the rains, he has decided to plant his groundnuts. The rains in coming days will determine how the yields fare, but Iliat is a little over a month behind schedule.
Groundnuts are usually planted during mid February and mid April during the first season and in early August for the second season.“It is already late but I have to plant now. I’m only hoping the rains will continue to fall in the coming weeks,” he said.
What he is producing is for home consumption because he does not want the current food shortage that has hit to affect him in the future. At the moment, he relies on charcoal burning to get money to feed his family. “I sell every sack at Shs 7,000 and use the money to buy beans and cassava flour and at times we rely on wild greens like ecomoil,” he said.
With the food shortage, almost every granary where food is stored between harvests is empty. The roofs have either collapsed or they have been abandoned altogether as most people prefer keeping the little food they have inside their houses other than the granaries.Ms Mary Akwi who lives in Adacara internally displaced camp in Katakwi said she last had food in her granary in 2006.
“When we were expecting the harvest of 2007, the floods came and since then we have not had any food in the granaries. With this famine, the granaries have been rendered useless. When you keep food there, it will be stolen,” Ms Akwi explained.
She has been struggling to keep her family of five children alive on one meal a day. With nothing much to till from the ground, she is now selling her labour to put food on the table.She is one of several villagers in Adacara who have been engaged in the construction of a community road. For every day she works, she earns Shs3,000 and it is this that she uses to buy food. The work is intensive and it has quickly exhausted Ms Akwi because she does not have proper meals in between and suffers from chest pain.
“When you come back and there is no good meal, the next day you can fail to go back to work. All this work depends on the energy you have,’’ Ms Akwi said. The famine has come with yet another problem, theft. “People have now resorted to stealing from the gardens. The other night thieves came and uprooted my cassava even when they have not matured,” Ms Akello said.
“You cannot even leave any food stuff to dry on the compound, you will not get it because some one will just steal it. The hunger is just too much,” Ms Akello complained.Reported cases of death as a result of hunger are so far low, but local leaders fear the situation could get worse if interventions are not made
NEWS: HIV/AIDS FIGHT: Uganda runs out of testing kits
HIV/AIDS FIGHT: Uganda runs out of testing kits
Saturday, MAY 16, 2009 from the MONITOR ONLINE
Uganda has run out of HIV/Aids testing kits and funds to treat sexually transmitted infections, leading to a fresh surge in infections.
Dr Kihumuro Apuuli, the director general of Uganda Aids Commission, told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that due to lack of funds from government, the fight against HIV/Aids through prevention has suffered a slowdown, insisting that lack of testing kits in the country has exacerbated the infection.
“We have run out of HIV/Aids testing kits needed for prevention from the virus because as a country we have turned ourselves into beggars,” Dr Apuuli said. “As I talk now, there is no money to treat sexually transmitted infections and this is a serious problem.”
MPs heard that HIV antibody testing, shows whether a person has been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Antibody tests are also known as ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) tests.
In Uganda, three HIV tests are recommended. The first is Determine which costs about Shs3,000. This is followed by Statpack (the confirmatory test) which costs about Shs17,000, while the third test, which is the tie breaker in case of discrepancies with the first two, costs about Shs29,000.
THE ABC STRATEGY: Vice President Bukenya championing the cause against AIDS.
It has emerged that unless government provides Shs10 billion, more Ugandans will continue spreading the virus without their knowledge. Dr Apuuli told MPs that Uganda relies heavily on donations to fund its HIV/Aids fight; a situation that could plunge the country into a catastrophe if major donors like the US government pulls out.
“The government should provide funds for HIV/Aids instead of relying on handouts from donors. We want government to budget for condoms needed for prevention as we deal with treatment of those who are already infected,” he said. He said key donors, the Department for International Development and Danish Government’s three year funding projects will end on June 30, 2009 and June 30, 2010 respectively.
When contacted, the general manager National Medical Stores (NMS) Mr Moses Kamabare, said that the HIV testing kits available can last between 4-5 months. “We have enough stocks for at least 4-5 months, but we expect to get more after the available stocks have run out,” Mr Kamabare said. “The only problem is that all these HIV testing kits are from donors and we are not sure what will happen if they pull out because of this credit crunch that has hit developed countries.”
About condoms, Mr Kamabare expressed concern that although NMS has enough stocks, many are expiring because health units are not delivering them to the beneficiaries, something that has increased new HIV infections in the country.
Ministry of Health estimates that more than 1 million people are affected by the condition, representing 3.7 per cent of the estimated 30 million Ugandans. Shadow minister for health Francis Epetait puts the estimated number of people infected with the virus that causes Aids at 3 million.
Dr Sam Okware, a commissioner for community health at the Ministry of Health said at a recent news conference: “New infections keep outstripping the capacity to treat them and prevent Aids related deaths. The cost of treatment is very high. It costs $14,000 to treat an individual per year. We are fighting a losing battle.”
This information was corroborated by Dr Apuuli who said: “People no longer care about their lives. They think that there is medicine to keep them going.” He denied reports that the Commission is not as effective as initially envisaged due to poor political leadership.
“We are efficient which is the reason we won the African Jury Award for best demonstration of map results in 2007,” he said.
Saturday, MAY 16, 2009 from the MONITOR ONLINE
Uganda has run out of HIV/Aids testing kits and funds to treat sexually transmitted infections, leading to a fresh surge in infections.
Dr Kihumuro Apuuli, the director general of Uganda Aids Commission, told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that due to lack of funds from government, the fight against HIV/Aids through prevention has suffered a slowdown, insisting that lack of testing kits in the country has exacerbated the infection.
“We have run out of HIV/Aids testing kits needed for prevention from the virus because as a country we have turned ourselves into beggars,” Dr Apuuli said. “As I talk now, there is no money to treat sexually transmitted infections and this is a serious problem.”
MPs heard that HIV antibody testing, shows whether a person has been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Antibody tests are also known as ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) tests.
In Uganda, three HIV tests are recommended. The first is Determine which costs about Shs3,000. This is followed by Statpack (the confirmatory test) which costs about Shs17,000, while the third test, which is the tie breaker in case of discrepancies with the first two, costs about Shs29,000.
THE ABC STRATEGY: Vice President Bukenya championing the cause against AIDS.
It has emerged that unless government provides Shs10 billion, more Ugandans will continue spreading the virus without their knowledge. Dr Apuuli told MPs that Uganda relies heavily on donations to fund its HIV/Aids fight; a situation that could plunge the country into a catastrophe if major donors like the US government pulls out.
“The government should provide funds for HIV/Aids instead of relying on handouts from donors. We want government to budget for condoms needed for prevention as we deal with treatment of those who are already infected,” he said. He said key donors, the Department for International Development and Danish Government’s three year funding projects will end on June 30, 2009 and June 30, 2010 respectively.
When contacted, the general manager National Medical Stores (NMS) Mr Moses Kamabare, said that the HIV testing kits available can last between 4-5 months. “We have enough stocks for at least 4-5 months, but we expect to get more after the available stocks have run out,” Mr Kamabare said. “The only problem is that all these HIV testing kits are from donors and we are not sure what will happen if they pull out because of this credit crunch that has hit developed countries.”
About condoms, Mr Kamabare expressed concern that although NMS has enough stocks, many are expiring because health units are not delivering them to the beneficiaries, something that has increased new HIV infections in the country.
Ministry of Health estimates that more than 1 million people are affected by the condition, representing 3.7 per cent of the estimated 30 million Ugandans. Shadow minister for health Francis Epetait puts the estimated number of people infected with the virus that causes Aids at 3 million.
Dr Sam Okware, a commissioner for community health at the Ministry of Health said at a recent news conference: “New infections keep outstripping the capacity to treat them and prevent Aids related deaths. The cost of treatment is very high. It costs $14,000 to treat an individual per year. We are fighting a losing battle.”
This information was corroborated by Dr Apuuli who said: “People no longer care about their lives. They think that there is medicine to keep them going.” He denied reports that the Commission is not as effective as initially envisaged due to poor political leadership.
“We are efficient which is the reason we won the African Jury Award for best demonstration of map results in 2007,” he said.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
RESOURCES: DEAD AID - IS THERE A BETTER WAY FOR AFRICA?
I am finishing up a most interesting (and somewhat controversial) book about the failure of government supported aid to Africa. More than a thorough and fascinating history of foreign aid to Africa and a detailed recouting of its failure, the author offers an alternative to African countries dependence on foreign aid that is respectful and insightful. Whether the DEAD AID plan (consisting of shifting the focus from aid to other sources of finance including: bonds, foreign direct investment, trade, remittances, and micro-finance) is a viable plan or not is somewhat of the current controversary. It is hard, however, not to become energized by the author's passion for her native continent and her desire to see Africa freed of its dependence, poverty, and corrruption. If nothing else, it fuels discussion and hopefully policy for a better approach to African aid...one that shows promise of change.
-Patrick
Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo
Edit
orial Reviews From Publishers Weekly
In this important analysis of the past fifty years of international (largely American) aid to Africa, economist and former World Bank consultant Moyo, a native of Zambia, prescribes a tough dose of medicine: stopping the tide of money that, however well-intentioned, only promotes corruption in government and dependence in citizens. With a global perspective and on-the-ground details, Moyo reveals that aid is often diverted to the coffers of cruel despotisms, and occasionally conflicts outright with the interests of citizens-free mosquito nets, for instance, killing the market for the native who sells them. In its place, Moyo advocates a smarter, though admittedly more difficult, policy of investment that has already worked to grow the economies of poor countries like Argentina and Brazil. Moyo writes with a general audience in mind, and doesn't hesitate to slow down and explain the intricacies of, say, the bond market. This is a brief, accessible look at the goals and reasons behind anti-aid advocates, with a hopeful outlook and a respectful attitude for the well-being and good faith of all involved.
-Patrick
Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo
Edit
orial Reviews From Publishers WeeklyIn this important analysis of the past fifty years of international (largely American) aid to Africa, economist and former World Bank consultant Moyo, a native of Zambia, prescribes a tough dose of medicine: stopping the tide of money that, however well-intentioned, only promotes corruption in government and dependence in citizens. With a global perspective and on-the-ground details, Moyo reveals that aid is often diverted to the coffers of cruel despotisms, and occasionally conflicts outright with the interests of citizens-free mosquito nets, for instance, killing the market for the native who sells them. In its place, Moyo advocates a smarter, though admittedly more difficult, policy of investment that has already worked to grow the economies of poor countries like Argentina and Brazil. Moyo writes with a general audience in mind, and doesn't hesitate to slow down and explain the intricacies of, say, the bond market. This is a brief, accessible look at the goals and reasons behind anti-aid advocates, with a hopeful outlook and a respectful attitude for the well-being and good faith of all involved.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
NEWS: Govt in dilemma as food shortage bites
Govt in dilemma as food shortage bites
Sunday, May 10, 2009 from MONITOR ONLINE
First came the expert’s warning about an unpredictable weather pattern. Then talk of looming famine followed by government assurances it had capacity to salvage the vulnerable from starvation.
Now, with reports of people dying of hunger in the countryside, officials in Kampala appear oddly caught off guard again.
They are in a panic mode, struggling to raise cash to buy food to assuage the battering effects of famine it knew, in time, was coming following sudden dry spells and failed crop yields in various parts of the country.
State Disaster Preparedness Minister Musa Ecweru said yesterday the Treasury has agreed to release only Shs1.9 billion out of Shs10 billion they requested to buy emergency food to feed the “most vulnerable.”
It remained unclear if individuals in hard-hit West Nile, Karamoja, Teso sub-regions as well as areas in the Mt. Elgon belt, who in official judgment do not appear helpless, would be left to suffer --- and die.
Karimojong women enjoy malwa, a local beer in Masese III Village, Jinja District recently. Karimojong women and children scavenge for food from garbage skips in Jinja Town.
The minister also offered no yardstick to determine the most vulnerable in an agonising situation where all clamour for food relief.
“We are going to buy food to help the most vulnerable people and liaise with the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that high and quick-yielding crop varieties are supplied for urgent planting in areas where rains have returned,” Mr Ecweru said yesterday, apparently reciting an overworked but unfulfilled official promise.
Farmers in the affected areas, he said, will be given cow peas seeds to plant alongside a sweet potatoes variety that matures within 85 days.
Three months is too long for people unable to put food on their table today to bear. Worse still, there is no guarantee the rains falling in some selected parts will continue predictably, something raising anger among frustrated victims now accusing government of neglecting them in their hour of need.
In the West Nile District of Moyo, where many people now survive on raw mangoes, the District Naads coordinator, Dr Thomas Anyanzo, said on Saturday that over the last three months, prices of most staples in the area increased by at least Shs500.
This is making it hard for struggling households to put food on the table.“Our worry is that the mango season is running out and what next for the people, no one knows!” he said.
Mr Hassan Fungaro, the MP for Obongi in Moyo District said yesterday that he personally approached Disaster Preparedness Minister, Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere to voice the desperation of his constituents but his plea for government food aid has been ignored.
“I don’t know why the government is treating its own citizens this way,” he said.
Daily Monitor was unable to reach Prof. Kabwegyere to respond to the allegations as his known cell phone was switched off.Ms Kabakumba Masiko, the information minister, however, said much of the criticism smells of “selfish political motives.”
“The government is not sidelining anyone. People should know that we run on a cash budget and can only act as and when the money is available,” she said last evening.
Ms Kabakumba said Finance will have to follow lengthy but mandatory procedures before making the cash available.
Then suppliers have to be sourced through an open bidding process with clearance by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets, the government contract monitoring authority.
“I cannot say when government will actually start buying the emergency food stock,” she said. Yet there is no explanation why the country does not have food reserves in the first place.
Instead Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi is asking donors to contribute $69, 300 (Shs211 million) to feed more than 1 million Karimojong for the next five months.
That should leave other affected areas even more worried. Interestingly, government has not navigated a fall back position should the development partners shun the appeal due to the devastating financial meltdown.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
NEWS: ‘We are losing to HIV/Aids’
‘We are losing to HIV/Aids’
Saturday, May 9, 2009 from MONITOR ONLINE
Uganda appears to be losing the fight to stem increasing HIV infections in spite of billions of shillings that have been thrown at the effort, it has emerged.
While the Ministry of Health estimates that 1.1 million people are suspected to be affected by condition, representing 3.7% of the estimated 30 million Ugandans, the shadow minister for health, Dr Francis Epetait puts the number of people suspected to be infected with the virus that causes Aids at three million.
300,000 of them have progressed from infection to full blown sickness. Just half of that number are on life-saving anti-retroviral drugs.
According to the Uganda Aids Commission, there are 135,000 new infections occurring every year especially at household level where there is a high level of discordance.
While addressing journalists at the closure of a three day national HIV/Aids counselling conference on Friday at Hotel Africana, Dr Sam Okware, the commissioner for community health at the health ministry said, “New infections keep outstripping the capacity to treat them and prevent Aids related deaths. The cost of treatment is very high. It costs $14,000 to treat an individual per year. We are fighting a losing battle.”
Dr Okware’s comments will be most disheartening especially to President Museveni who personally led a late 1980s’ awareness-raising offensive that resulting in Uganda bringing down prevalence rate to as low 6%. The country was viewed as a success story in the war against the scourge, now that seems to have been reversed.
While several mitigation measures have been tried which include, the ABC strategy which encouraged abstinence, being faithful to one sexual partner and condom use, together with companies coming up with HIV/Aids work place policies, which was aimed at ensuring that victims are not discriminated against, are given equal employment opportunities, access to care and treatment remains a challenge.
And this despite an attempt to take health services closer to the communities through voluntary home counselling and testing which has also scaled down since it was started three years ago because of the high costs involved.
The Uganda Aids Control programme is now focusing on scaling up psycho-social support through pre and post-test counselling to ensure that the people found negative are encouraged to remain negative and those found positive are encouraged to accept the situation and asked not to spread the virus to the uninfected people.The other option government is considering is legislation that would criminalise transmission of HIV/Aids.
But according to Dr Zainab Akol, a manager at the national Aids control programme, “the bill is unrealistic. HIV positive people should have been consulted because so many people are not aware of their status.”
A study conducted in Kawempe, Kampala in 2008 by a Makerere University anthropologist, Dr Stella Nyanzi, on the cultural perceptions of widowhood, reveal a rise in stigma among HIV/Aids infected persons especially the elderly.
While presenting her research findings at the Childhood Illnesses and Development Centre at Mulago on May 5, she said at Mengo Hospital where she conducted part of the study, young widows some of whom had lost multiple sexual partners, had scared away elderly women and men from accessing treatment. The elderly withdrew because whenever they went for treatment, the young taunted them: that they are too old to have acquired HIV.
According to the Aids control programme, 80% of new infections are sexually transmitted while 19% is from mother to child transmission. 60% of the infected people are discordant while only 25% of the population has received counselling and testing.
An Aids indicator survey is planned to be conducted before the end of the year to ascertain as close possible to the actual number of infected people.
Dr Epetait told Sunday Monitor that there has been a policy shift emphasising treatment which is more expensive as opposed to prevention. “Very little is being done to educate the public. There are very few condoms in supply and even the hand gloves are not enough in health facilities which exposes health workers to the disease.”
He said Parliament passed a Shs60 billion budget allocation to Quality Chemicals, the company that produces ARVs and malaria drugs but part of the money was diverted by the ministry for salary enhancement. “There is scarcity of ARVs. Once a patient has been put on treatment, it should continue, once it stops the resistance to the drugs increases which means that the regimen has to change. The number of people is increasing.”
Saturday, May 9, 2009 from MONITOR ONLINE
Uganda appears to be losing the fight to stem increasing HIV infections in spite of billions of shillings that have been thrown at the effort, it has emerged.
While the Ministry of Health estimates that 1.1 million people are suspected to be affected by condition, representing 3.7% of the estimated 30 million Ugandans, the shadow minister for health, Dr Francis Epetait puts the number of people suspected to be infected with the virus that causes Aids at three million.
300,000 of them have progressed from infection to full blown sickness. Just half of that number are on life-saving anti-retroviral drugs.
According to the Uganda Aids Commission, there are 135,000 new infections occurring every year especially at household level where there is a high level of discordance.
While addressing journalists at the closure of a three day national HIV/Aids counselling conference on Friday at Hotel Africana, Dr Sam Okware, the commissioner for community health at the health ministry said, “New infections keep outstripping the capacity to treat them and prevent Aids related deaths. The cost of treatment is very high. It costs $14,000 to treat an individual per year. We are fighting a losing battle.”
Dr Okware’s comments will be most disheartening especially to President Museveni who personally led a late 1980s’ awareness-raising offensive that resulting in Uganda bringing down prevalence rate to as low 6%. The country was viewed as a success story in the war against the scourge, now that seems to have been reversed.
While several mitigation measures have been tried which include, the ABC strategy which encouraged abstinence, being faithful to one sexual partner and condom use, together with companies coming up with HIV/Aids work place policies, which was aimed at ensuring that victims are not discriminated against, are given equal employment opportunities, access to care and treatment remains a challenge.
And this despite an attempt to take health services closer to the communities through voluntary home counselling and testing which has also scaled down since it was started three years ago because of the high costs involved.
The Uganda Aids Control programme is now focusing on scaling up psycho-social support through pre and post-test counselling to ensure that the people found negative are encouraged to remain negative and those found positive are encouraged to accept the situation and asked not to spread the virus to the uninfected people.The other option government is considering is legislation that would criminalise transmission of HIV/Aids.
But according to Dr Zainab Akol, a manager at the national Aids control programme, “the bill is unrealistic. HIV positive people should have been consulted because so many people are not aware of their status.”
A study conducted in Kawempe, Kampala in 2008 by a Makerere University anthropologist, Dr Stella Nyanzi, on the cultural perceptions of widowhood, reveal a rise in stigma among HIV/Aids infected persons especially the elderly.
While presenting her research findings at the Childhood Illnesses and Development Centre at Mulago on May 5, she said at Mengo Hospital where she conducted part of the study, young widows some of whom had lost multiple sexual partners, had scared away elderly women and men from accessing treatment. The elderly withdrew because whenever they went for treatment, the young taunted them: that they are too old to have acquired HIV.
According to the Aids control programme, 80% of new infections are sexually transmitted while 19% is from mother to child transmission. 60% of the infected people are discordant while only 25% of the population has received counselling and testing.
An Aids indicator survey is planned to be conducted before the end of the year to ascertain as close possible to the actual number of infected people.
Dr Epetait told Sunday Monitor that there has been a policy shift emphasising treatment which is more expensive as opposed to prevention. “Very little is being done to educate the public. There are very few condoms in supply and even the hand gloves are not enough in health facilities which exposes health workers to the disease.”
He said Parliament passed a Shs60 billion budget allocation to Quality Chemicals, the company that produces ARVs and malaria drugs but part of the money was diverted by the ministry for salary enhancement. “There is scarcity of ARVs. Once a patient has been put on treatment, it should continue, once it stops the resistance to the drugs increases which means that the regimen has to change. The number of people is increasing.”
Friday, May 8, 2009
NEWS: Injections cause 30,000 HIV/Aids infections annually
Injections cause 30,000 HIV/Aids infections annually
Thursday, May 8, 2009 from MONITOR ONLINE
Kampala Health experts are urging cautious use of injections after recent studies show at least 30,000 of the new HIV/Aids infections are a result of re-using needles and syringes.
Unless in extreme cases, medical experts say patients should try as much as possible to rely on tablets to cure their ailments.
“If you use the standard syringes, you are talking of at least 30,000 new infections from injections for HIV/Aids and yet if you use syringes that are easily disabled, you can cut those infections to about 250 annually,’’ said Dr Jacinto Amandua, the Commissioner for Clinical Services in the Ministry of Health.
Speaking at a meting on injection safety in Kampala on wednesday, besides HIV/Aids, Dr Amandua said majority of cases of Hepatitis B have been caused through use of injections.
“The number of infections of Hepatitis B through use of syringes is even higher than that of HIV/Aids and this is very dangerous yet its going on silently,’’Dr Amandua said.Dr Amandua attributed the high number of disabled persons to the use of unsafe injections. “If you go to Mulago there are a lot of people whose nerves have been damaged because of being injected with unsafe syringes. In fact if you find people on the streets who are paralysed and ask them, they will tell you they got paralysed after being injected,’’ Dr Amandua said.
Last year, the government introduced syringes known as the auto disabling needles which will destroy themselves immediately after an injection has been administered in a bid to curb the infections.
Making a presentation on earlier studies conducted in Uganda on injection safety, Dr Jackson Amone, the assistant commissioner for clinical services said that the frequency of injection use was found to be high, with most of them considered to be unsafe.
“The risk of medical transmission of blood borne pathogens was estimated to be high and insufficient supply of needles and syringes, unhygienic working environment and injections being administered by unqualified people contributed to this un safety,’’ Dr Amone said.
Thursday, May 8, 2009 from MONITOR ONLINE
Kampala Health experts are urging cautious use of injections after recent studies show at least 30,000 of the new HIV/Aids infections are a result of re-using needles and syringes.
Unless in extreme cases, medical experts say patients should try as much as possible to rely on tablets to cure their ailments.
“If you use the standard syringes, you are talking of at least 30,000 new infections from injections for HIV/Aids and yet if you use syringes that are easily disabled, you can cut those infections to about 250 annually,’’ said Dr Jacinto Amandua, the Commissioner for Clinical Services in the Ministry of Health.
Speaking at a meting on injection safety in Kampala on wednesday, besides HIV/Aids, Dr Amandua said majority of cases of Hepatitis B have been caused through use of injections.
“The number of infections of Hepatitis B through use of syringes is even higher than that of HIV/Aids and this is very dangerous yet its going on silently,’’Dr Amandua said.Dr Amandua attributed the high number of disabled persons to the use of unsafe injections. “If you go to Mulago there are a lot of people whose nerves have been damaged because of being injected with unsafe syringes. In fact if you find people on the streets who are paralysed and ask them, they will tell you they got paralysed after being injected,’’ Dr Amandua said.
Last year, the government introduced syringes known as the auto disabling needles which will destroy themselves immediately after an injection has been administered in a bid to curb the infections.
Making a presentation on earlier studies conducted in Uganda on injection safety, Dr Jackson Amone, the assistant commissioner for clinical services said that the frequency of injection use was found to be high, with most of them considered to be unsafe.
“The risk of medical transmission of blood borne pathogens was estimated to be high and insufficient supply of needles and syringes, unhygienic working environment and injections being administered by unqualified people contributed to this un safety,’’ Dr Amone said.
NEWS: 500 kids need heart surgery
500 kids need heart surgery
Thursday, 7th May, 2009 from NEW VISION 
The children who are to undergo surgery, pose for a photo with Buturo and other officials
Thursday, 7th May, 2009 from NEW VISION
The children who are to undergo surgery, pose for a photo with Buturo and other officialsOVER 500 children suffering from heart diseases are waiting to undergo surgery at the Uganda Heart Institute, the acting director, John Omagino, has said. He was on Tuesday speaking at a ceremony at Hotel Africana Kampala to send 30 children to undergo open-heart surgery abroad. The children were sponsored by the Rotary Club of Kampala and Gift of Life International. “We find it difficult to handle many cases of children waiting to undergo surgery. We are constrained by staff and resources,” Omagino said. He said surgery required special treatment and equipment, which the institute did not have. Omagino said the institute had carried out 300 closed-heart surgeries and 33 open-heart surgeries with the support of foreign partners. The Minister of Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, represented the state minister for Karamoja Mrs. Janet Museveni as the chief guest. Mrs. Museveni called upon Ugandans to watch their lifestyles and nutrition, saying it would help to curb heart diseases. Rotary club publicist James Serugo said the club planned to upgrade the Uganda Heart Institute to enable it carry out more open heart surgeries. He said about sh50m would be spent on each beneficiary.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
NEWS: Death as famine ravages Uganda
Death as famine ravages UgandaWednesday May 6, 2209 from MONITOR ONLINE
A 46-year-old woman in Abim District, north eastern Uganda died of hunger on Monday after going several days without food. This is just one of the many deaths that are raising fears of looming famine especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country.
Lina Awilli hails from Angiro South village, Kanu parish. The district Speaker, Godfrey Okello, who told Daily Monitor of Ms Awilli’s death yesterday, said conditions are ripe for the incident to replicate itself in many parts of the district
“We need emergency response to address the situation,” said Mr Okello. “Towards Easter, rain became very heavy and washed away all crops and now the farmers have to wait for another season to plant the crops. Our people are very vulnerable, especially these elderly people; they are doing very badly.”
Abim is one of several districts in the West Nile, northern and north-eastern regions whose officials have cried out to the government over food shortage. Other districts include Amuria, Katakwi, Kotido, Moroto, Moyo, Adjumani and Arua.
The rallying cry by local leaders is an effort to stem famine-related deaths. In May last year, the MP for Dodoth County in Moroto district, Rev. Fr. Simon Lokodo, told the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Food Security, Population and Development that between April 25 and May 18, at the height of last year’s famine, at least 30 people died due to food shortage.
This year, the famine has been prolonged in some areas but the reported deaths are low so far. Katakwi district Chairman, Robert Ekongot said in late March that about 62,000 people were facing famine in his district, mainly as a result of poor harvests over the last three years following a spell of floods, drought and water logging in the area.
In an interview yesterday, the district Speaker of Amuria, Mr Robert Adiama, said, “There’s famine because of several factors like the drought spell which has hit the district. We actually need food urgently.”
Mr Adiama said the famine has reached a level where people cannot afford three meals a day. “What we need now are ways of helping these people to survive and how they can access seeds for planting,” he said.
Even in cases where the food is available, he added, it has become very expensive for the people to afford. “For example a basin of cassava which was costing between Shs2500 and Shs5000 is now Shs10,000. Not many people can afford,” Mr Adiama said.
The famine is partly a result of the poverty already biting a large part of the population, with 57 per cent saying in a late 2008 opinion poll commissioned by Afrobarometer that they had gone without food at one point in the last year and 55 per cent saying they had gone without water – up from 49 per cent in 2005.
In the West Nile district of Arua, farmers have not received reliable rainfall since September 2009. The most affected crops that are mainly grown in the district both for home and commercial consumption are cassava, maize, sim-sim and vegetables.
According to the District Commercial Officer in charge of Marketing, Mr Oboko Emmanuel, most families are too poor to afford the high priced produce.
“The problem is families cannot afford to buy food items expensively. So they have to survive on one meal a day while forego the rest,” he said, adding that the situation has worsened as many farmers are losing their crops due to the drought.
Mr Oboko said the high poverty level adds to the woes as many families cannot afford to live on one dollar a day (about Shs2200). “I don’t know how people will survive if this continues up to July,” he noted.
The drought stricken district used to receive reliable rainfall at least twice a year that was adequate for crop growing. Now, the district is importing the food produce from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lira, Soroti and Masindi districts.
The district is now experiencing variation in the rainfall pattern due to weather change with dry wind.
Even the border markets of Ejupala, Odramachaku and Kampala market in Logiri that used to be main suppliers of food items, is now operating on few food crops. It is mainly the Congolese who used to supply them but reports say the Congolese are facing the same drought.
Mr Oboko said the continued drought has also led to increase in food prices as many traders prefer selling their goods to South Sudan at higher prices. For instance, the market price for millet is now up from Shs600 to Shs1200 per Kg, ground nuts from Shs950 to Shs2000 per Kg, cassava floor from Shs800 to Shs1400 per Kg and beans from Shs1200 to Shs1600 per Kg.
The state minister for Disaster preparedness, Mr Musa Ecweru, was however quick to say that government was aware of the food crisis in parts of the country and that his ministry had already put in place a number of interventions.
“We are giving planting materials to the affected areas. What is happening now is the rains came late in some areas which affected the planting season,” he said.
Mr Ecweru said in an earlier interview with Daily Monitor that Shs1.9 billion had already been earmarked to address the crisis.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
NEWS: Uganda to conduct HIV survey
Uganda to conduct HIV survey
Sunday, 3rd May, 2009 from NEW VISION ONLINE
THE Ministry of Health plans to carry out another national HIV/AIDS sero-behavioural survey later this year. “The survey taskforce is working out the modalities like mobilising the funds, but by October, we expect to have kicked off,” said Dr. Sam Zaramba, the director general of health services. He disclosed that the survey would cost about $5m (sh10b), which will be financed by the Government and development partners. A sero-status survey is carried out to establish the magnitude, knowledge and management of HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections. Zaramba said the 2004/2005 survey showed an increase in HIV infections among adults. This, he explained, is one of the critical areas that this year’s survey will focus on. According to the 2004/5 survey, 6.4% of Ugandans aged between 15-49 were HIV-positive. The HIV prevalence was higher among women at 7.5%, while that in men was 5%. The survey showed that 10.1% of urban residents were infected, while the prevalence rate in their rural counterparts was 5.7%. The central region had a prevalence rate of 8.5%, followed by northern Uganda with 8.2%. The survey also showed a high prevalence of other sexually-transmitted infections. Zainab Akol, the head of the AIDS Control Programme in the health ministry, said there had been an increase in the number of people accessing voluntary counselling services. About 20% of Ugandans know their sero status. The Government has been encouraging people, especially the youth, to test and establish their sero status so as to live responsibly Akol, however, said an increase in the number of people living with HIV and AIDS is expected. An estimated 135,000 people are infected with the virus every year. Nearly 650,000 Ugandans unknowingly live with HIV-positive sexual partners. Medical practitioners have expressed concern that about 85,000 people risk contracting HIV this year if they are not sensitised about the virus.
Sunday, 3rd May, 2009 from NEW VISION ONLINE
THE Ministry of Health plans to carry out another national HIV/AIDS sero-behavioural survey later this year. “The survey taskforce is working out the modalities like mobilising the funds, but by October, we expect to have kicked off,” said Dr. Sam Zaramba, the director general of health services. He disclosed that the survey would cost about $5m (sh10b), which will be financed by the Government and development partners. A sero-status survey is carried out to establish the magnitude, knowledge and management of HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections. Zaramba said the 2004/2005 survey showed an increase in HIV infections among adults. This, he explained, is one of the critical areas that this year’s survey will focus on. According to the 2004/5 survey, 6.4% of Ugandans aged between 15-49 were HIV-positive. The HIV prevalence was higher among women at 7.5%, while that in men was 5%. The survey showed that 10.1% of urban residents were infected, while the prevalence rate in their rural counterparts was 5.7%. The central region had a prevalence rate of 8.5%, followed by northern Uganda with 8.2%. The survey also showed a high prevalence of other sexually-transmitted infections. Zainab Akol, the head of the AIDS Control Programme in the health ministry, said there had been an increase in the number of people accessing voluntary counselling services. About 20% of Ugandans know their sero status. The Government has been encouraging people, especially the youth, to test and establish their sero status so as to live responsibly Akol, however, said an increase in the number of people living with HIV and AIDS is expected. An estimated 135,000 people are infected with the virus every year. Nearly 650,000 Ugandans unknowingly live with HIV-positive sexual partners. Medical practitioners have expressed concern that about 85,000 people risk contracting HIV this year if they are not sensitised about the virus.
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