Around Uganda
Africa health 20(5): 38
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0141-9536 PMID: 12294119 Document Number: 278206
The UK is donating US$800,000 to Uganda to reduce the death rate in the western region; the number of cases of malaria there has soared because of unusually severe rains. The health ministry is recommending self-medication with drugs purchased from licensed drug shops and pharmacies (there have been cases of fake or substandard chloroquine tablets and injectable solutions). Cholera is a problem in most of the country, but patients seem reluctant to go to the hospital, even though adequate supplies of drugs are available. Because of the Rift Valley Fever outbreak in Kenya, the health ministry is monitoring movements of people in the border area and conducting a mass screening for the disease. The Mulago National Referral Hospital is receiving US$35 million to improve wards and utilities and to build a new drug quality control laboratory. A training hospital which will provide palliative care for patients with AIDS has opened recently; it is a collaborative project with Mildmay Hospital in the UK. During its regional scientific conference in Masaka, members of the Association of Surgeons of East Africa and Central Africa offered free services to patients in Masaka and Rakai districts. According to the Minister of State for Gender and Community Development, fewer Ugandan women are being circumcised; the rate has dropped by 56% since 1990, due to the efforts of government and women's groups. However, other forms of violence against women remain a problem; the Family Protection Unit of the Ugandan police list 400 reported cases of wife beating, 150 cases of rape, and 250 cases of "defilement of school girls." Police intend to work with teachers to decrease the rising rate of sexual crimes in school. Police also say 90% of street children sniff solvents.