UGANDA

Population:	23,317,560
Rural population (as % of total population):	85
Life expectancy (years):	43.2
Gross national income per capita (£):	585
Prevalence of HIV, total (% of population ages 15-49):	4.6
Prevalence of HIV, female (% of population ages 15-49):	4.6
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births):	83

Statistics from: http://devdata.worldbank.org/data-query/

As a nation, Uganda has been successful in confronting the HIV/AIDS stigma and reducing the country's HIV/AIDS infection rate, particularly in urban centres, to around 5%, down from around 8% in 1999. However, young people aged 10-24 years have increased vulnerability to infection due to early sexual activity. Traditional practices, such as widow inheritance and polygamy, inadequate family education and culturally approved gender roles that encourage submissiveness on the part of girls and aggressiveness on the part of boys, are a few of the cultural factors that threaten progress made to date on reducing HIV infection.

The Response:

• SPW Uganda is assisting the Ugandan government in this mission, by reaching remote rural areas through our youth-led focused Health Education Programme (HEP), in which Peer Educators teach both formal and non-formal lessons in schools and organise extra-curricular activities and community event days.
• SPW Uganda is exploring creative ways of linking our highly successful Ugandan Community Resource Programme (CRP) to our Health Education Programme in order to strengthen the economic capacity of farmers and the communities in which we work. Through this programme, Community Action Groups and Peer Educators work on soil erosion control, organic farming, crop diversification, bee keeping and fuel efficient stoves.

Key Achievements:

• The Health Education Programme has retained strong links with the National Government through the Uganda AIDS Commission, and developed ongoing relationships with civil society organisations such as the AIDS Information Centre (AIC) and The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO). These groups provide expert technical advice, voluntary counselling and testing at events, and offer additional training for Peer Educators.

Case Study:

The sub county headquarters helped the volunteers identify a number of local farmers who were particularly motivated and organised in their work. The volunteers brought them together and trained them in sustainable organic farming techniques over a period of 6 weeks. Following this the farmers formed an association between them selves called the Bukhulo Organic Farmers Association. The volunteers continued to support the farmers, who started to train other local farmers in the techniques they learnt. Since the volunteers have left, the farmers have set up their own model organic farm, which has poultry, livestock, crops and agro-forestry, and they continue to train other farmers in the community and work closely with sub-country chief.

"At the end of every year I write an annual newsletter to all the parents, and this is the first year I have ever been able to write that not one of my girls dropped out from school because of pregnancy. It made me very proud and I owe it all to the SPW volunteers. Through their dramas and other games they make the students take control of their lives and enable them to understand and make decisions for themselves".

Headmaster, Muyembe High School, Muyembe, Sironko District, 2003

Partner Organisations

• Aids Information Centre
• BONITA
• Global Fund
• McKnight Foundation
• National Organic Movement of Uganda (NOGAMU)
• One World Group, Oxted
• Ugandan AIDS Commission (UAC)
• Uphold