Country background info
Uganda lies in Africa 's Sub-Saharan region. It is a landlocked country situated in the eastern part of Africa, bordering with Kenya to the East, Tanzania and Rwanda to the South, the Democratic Republic of Congo to the West and Sudan to the North.
According to the 2007 report of the state of the country's population by the Population Secretariat, the country had an average annual population growth rate 3.2% with a population size of 28.4 million people in 2007. |
The literacy rate was at 69% of those 10 years and above. The majority of Ugandans (about 88%) live in rural areas where subsistence agriculture is the major source of food and income
The country is partitioned into 80 local government authorities also referred to as districts. The decentralized system of governance adopted in 1995 devolved most functions and powers to districts which shoulder the task of service delivery to grassroots communities. The centre focuses on policy making, resource mobilization, setting standards, support supervision and national security.
Useful Links
www.myuganda.co.ug/categories/about/
http://www.visituganda.com/
http://enteruganda.com/about/
www.ubos.org |
The HIV/AIDS epidemic 
The first AIDS case was diagnosed in 1981 in the United States of America and the disease has since spread to epidemic proportions around the world . According to the November 2007epidemiological update , UNAIDS estimates that globally 33.2 million children and adults are living with HIV/AIDS while 2.5 million new infections and 2.1 million deaths occurred in the year 2007 alone. There are regional variances in HIV prevalence globally. Sub Saharan Africa, where Uganda lies, bears the heaviest burden of the epidemic accounting for 68% of those living with HIV/AIDS globally while about 76% of the AIDS related deaths in 2007 alone occurred in this region. For more information visit: http://data.unaids.org/pub/EPISlides/2007/2007_epiupdate_en.pdf
In Sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is mainly transmitted through heterosexual intercourse. Variances in sexual behaviors across cultures, age groups, and gender usually influenced by culture and social, economic circumstances impact on HIV on HIV spread as well as prevention interventions. Similarly, poverty, underdevelopment and illiteracy contribute to the spread of HIV in the developing world yet HIV/AIDS is also observed to aggravate the poverty situation, hindering development efforts and eroding gains in various areas.
HIV/AIDS epidemiological trends in Uganda
Uganda was among the first hard hit countries. The first HIV/AIDS case was identified in the country along the shores of Lake Victoria in 1982. Superstitions and witchcraft characterized the initial response from communities amidst lack of clear government response to HIV/AIDS. Consequently, the epidemic progressed very fast to all parts of the country initially concentrating in urban and semi-urban centres.
By end of 1992, the national prevalence rate was estimated at 18.3% with some centres registering rates above 30%. This was followed by a period of steady decline in prevalence rates from the mid 1990s to 2002 to around 6%, attributed to favourable prevention policies. The country has since experienced stabilizing prevalence rates over the last years with threats of increases in some parts of the country.
The 2004/05 National HIV/AIDS sero and behaviour survey by the Ministry of Health Surveillance Unit estimated about 915,400 adults and children were living with HIV/AIDS in 2005. Prevalence among adults aged 15-49 yrs was estimated at 6.4%, 0.7% among children less than 5 years, and 5.8% among those aged 50-59. The Ministry of Health estimated 132,500 new infections in 2005 alone.
The survey revealed regional, rural/urban, and gender variations in HIV prevalence. The Kampala , central, and North-central regions registered the highest infection rates at around 8% while the West Nile region was at 2.3%. Overall infection rates higher in urban areas compared to rural areas, amongst urban women almost twice as high (13%) compared to women in rural areas at 7%.
The Ministry of Health also estimated the national HIV prevalence rate (pooled antenatal figures) at an average of 6.2% of the total Ugandan population by end of 2002 while new infections were estimated at 70,170 cases, new AIDS cases at 73,830 and AIDS deaths at 75,290 in 2002 alone.
For more information contact the Ministry of Health at
http://www.health.go.ug
Impact of HIV/AIDS
In Uganda HIV/AIDS has affected both rural and urban dwellers, adults and children and the impacts cut across regions and occupational groups in the country with varying magnitude. HIV/AIDS, especially in resource-constrained settings, results in physical and psychological suffering of the infected and eventually the affected. Consequently HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality has negatively affected development initiatives at individual, household, sector and eventually national levels as individual and household savings are depleted to access care for the sick while income inflows from affected adults are cut off due to sickness and attending to the sick.
Since 1982 when the country's first cases of HIV were detected on the shores of Lake Victoria in Rakai district, cumulatively an estimated 2.6 million Uganda have been infected and 1.6 million have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS related illnesses including 76,000 in 2005 alone. For many years, AIDS has been and is still a leading cause of adult disease and deaths. It is the fourth leading cause of under-5 mortality, directly influencing the realization of MDG goals. Adult life expectancy currently is at 48.9 years (50 years for females and 48 years for males) yet it is projected to have been 56.9 years without AIDS. AIDS is cited among the leading causes of poverty in the country.
There is increased morbidity due to the upsurge of opportunistic infections some of which requiring even more complex expensive treatments than can be afforded. Reviews have established that 50-70% of hospital admissions are HIV related. HIV has ignited the upsurge of an equally threatening tuberculosis epidemic. About 50-60% of TB cases are co-infected with HIV.
Most of the AIDS deaths occur among men and women of childbearing age resulting in unmanageable increases of Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVCs).
The NHSBS
estimated a total of 2.18 million Ugandan orphans by end of 2005. About 47% of these and 81% of the 567,700 dual orphans are due to AIDS.
UNAIDS estimated over 880,000 children below 14 years AIDS orphaned by AIDS in the country constituting about 51% of all orphans of that age by 2000. Results from a national action research study of 2002 reflected that communities perceive orphan care among the greatest burdens of the epidemic. HIV/AIDS has increased the costs on drugs, human capacity development and expenditure in the health sector generally due to the increasing demands from HIV-related ailments yet limited access to health care facilities makes the epidemic more devastating at individual level.
The epidemic was, in the year 2000, declared a security and development crisis in the country that demands for inclusion on the agendas of all development efforts. For more information: ( 
.pdf)
