Uganda

Uganda is located in the heart of East Africa, bounded by Kenya, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Although landlocked, Uganda does not lack for water. Within its borders are Lake Albert, Lake Edward, Lake George, Lake Kyoga, and the largest, Lake Victoria, which covers most of the southeast corner of the country. It was at Lake Victoria that many epidemiologists believe the AIDS virus first jumped to humans. Villagers along the lakeside suffered from a “wasting disease” beginning in the 1970s, and the first documented case of AIDS was diagnosed there in 1982, only a year after the virus was seen in the United States.

AIDS is the leading cause of mortality in Uganda, followed by tuberculosis and malaria. The adult prevalence rate is 6.7 percent, with an estimated 1 million Ugandans currently infected. Since its emergence in the 1980s, more than 2 million Ugandans have been infected, and almost 1 million have already died from the virus. The country has received a great deal of international funding to help combat AIDS, but conflict in the north, poor infrastructure and understaffing has made implementation of education and treatment programs difficult. However, new infections have leveled off somewhat in recent years. The tuberculosis rate continues to increase, with a prevalence rate of 559 cases per 100,000 people.

Malaria, dysentery, cholera, viral hepatitis, and typhoid fever are among the most common diseases to strike Ugandans. Nine million are believed to be at high risk for contracting African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), an often fatal parasitic disease transmitted by the Tsetse fly. In 2001, there was an outbreak of Ebola virus, with around 425 diagnosed cases and 169 deaths. Uganda is in the African meningitis belt, and had a major outbreak in 2006. An ongoing campaign to eradicate Guinea worm infections has been going well.

The fertility rate is 6.84 children per woman. Over half of all rural women marry in adolescence and begin childbearing early, and only 20 percent have access to contraceptives. More than half of Uganda's AIDS cases are women. While 92 percent of women receive some prenatal care, 39 percent give birth without trained attendants, contributing to a high maternal mortality rate of 880 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Nationwide, the child mortality rate for children in Uganda is 79 deaths per 1,000 in infants and 136 death per 1,000 in those under 5 years, although these rates are higher in some regions. Acute respiratory disease and malaria is the leading cause. A quarter of children are malnourished. At least 100,000 children under 15 have HIV/AIDS, and there are more than [Page 1698]2 million orphans living in the country, a figure that is expected to grow to 3.5 million by 2010.

Over 1.1 million women and children have been displaced by conflict, most forced to live in some of the 200 refugee camps spread across the country. The Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel militia operating in the north, has abducted at least 25,000 children since 1986 and forced them to become soldiers. This has led to the phenomena of the “night commuters,” a daily procession of more than 40,000 children from their homes to nearby towns to seek shelter from raiding parties.

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