Hope Mafaranga

Flavia Kisembo, 70, is a happy woman today. In 2002, Kisembo was a miserable village grandmother as she considered the future of her remaining two HIV positive grand children. Kisembo had lost three of her children, a son and two daughters to HIV/AIDS. Some of her grandchildren also died from the same disease. When the second daughter died in 2001, she left three children, two boys and a girl with Kisembo.   “The girl died shortly after the mother’s death. The youngest boy who was about three years was getting sick so often and it was becoming a nightmare to manage his sickness,” Kisembo recollects. It only dawned on her when one of her neighbours, Rev. Ezra Musobozi who had visited her suggested they take the young boy for an HIV test. It turned out that David Nyakoojo was HIV positive. The elder boy too, was HIV positive. KIDA comes to the rescue Rev. Musobozi who is the founder of Kitojo Integrated Development Association (KIDA) offered to take care of the orphaned boys. His organi

Cancer patients struggle to survive By Hope Mafaranga In Uganda Cancer patients struggle to survive the disease and costs, however most cancers can be prevented and even cured if detected early and treatment made available. But frequent drug stock-outs and an ill-equipped health system mean many patients cannot afford the high cost of treatment, many end up dying. Once a rare disease, cancers of various kinds are emerging to be a big killer in Uganda. Despite this threat, many of these cancers are either not getting treated or costing huge sums of money. His breath was slow and desperate, taking every successful breath as if it were his last. Early this month, Ronald Ahwera joined the agony queue at the Mulago Cancer Institute, the only cancer facility in a country of 34 million people. Funding to the health sector, most of it from foreign donors, largely goes to three diseases namely HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. So cancer patients like Ahwera are paying a heavy price. He had a

A study on disasters on crop diversity concluded By Hope Mafaranga 20, November 2011 In Uganda A first study to investigate in detail the effects of disasters on crop diversity and its recovery has been concluded with a combined agronomic observations of looking at the seeds’ colour, size, pattern, and shape with biotechnology tools to determine the seeds’ genetic makeup. Seeds of local crop varieties must be included in relief-seed packages distributed to small-scale farmers after natural calamities if indigenous agricultural diversity is to rebound faster. Dr Morag Ferguson, a molecular biologist with IITA and one of the study’s lead researchers, says farmers in Africa traditionally grow many crops and several varieties of each crop on the same plot of land to cope with unforeseen economic or environmental instabilities. He said that agricultural relief efforts should also capitalize on existing social networks to distribute seeds more effectively and efficiently. These are among the

Uganda ranked among the countries with high TB rate By Hope Mafaranga November 20, 2011 In Kampala Uganda is ranked the 16th among the 22 high burden countries with 102,000 new cases of Tuberculosis (TB) that occurs in the country every year. The National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programmes Manager Dr Francis Adatu disclosed that at the end of 2010, 45,546 TB new cases were identified in Uganda and of these 54 percent were confirmed to be HIV positive. He added that   330 out of 100,000 people get infected per year in every constituency , adding that   out of 100, 000 people infected by TB, 93 die and the number has been accelerated by HIV/AIDS.   “TB is the single leading killer of people living with HIV. We must detect, treat and cure TB so that people living with HIV/AIDS can live longer,” he said. He said that TB affects economically active age group of between 15-55 years which he said has also affected the social and economic development of the country.   TB is air borne disease

Rwenzori residents told to vacate steep slopes By Hope Mafaranga COMMUNITIES living on the slopes of Rwenzori Mountain have been ordered to vacate the area to avoid landslide related catastrophes. State minister for relief, disaster preparedness and refugee Musa Ecweru said the area was prone to landslides because of its terrain. Handing over food relief to the people of Ntoroko district at Kanara landing site on Sunday, Ecweru said he did not want the people of Rwenzori region to be buried by landslides. “These people must relocate to relatively safer places because I do not want to come here to bury them. It is better for me to come here to look after them and bring food relief when they are displaced somewhere,” Ecweru said. Ecweru said Uganda was experiencing disasters like lightning and hailstorm as a result of environmental degradation. “The weather has become unpredictable due to environmental degradation. Experts are telling us that lightning which has

Thousands appeal to government over poor health facilities. By Hope Mafaranga In Kabarole Thousands of people in Kibiito sub-county in Kabarole district have appealed to government to improve on the poor road network and poor health facilities in the area. The residents said they walk about 30 kms in the mountainous area seeking for health services at Rwagimba health center III. They said that the Government and Kabarole district leadership in particular have failed to extend social services in their area.  The most affected villages are Buryampaho, Rwagimba, Busanda, Bukara and Bulyambaghu. According to William Mumbere an elder in the area said that the health center rarely has drugs because vehicles, boda-boda and bicycles don’t reach there. Mumbere said that once in while when the drugs are delivered to the health, the delivery van stops at Kinyampanika primary school and they mobilize the community to carry drugs their head to the health center. “When we get drugs we mobil

High population threatens Uganda wetlands By Hope Mafaranga August 22, 2011 In Kabarole Uganda has extensive wetland coverage, although information on the exact size and distribution is yet to be documented. Current estimates put the total area of wetlands at 33,000 Km 2 ; about 13% of the country’s total area. Uganda’s wetlands are faced with threats of degradation especially resulting from population pressure and economic development. The Kabarole district natural resources officer Sam Mugume says that wetlands throughout the country are increasingly being encroached upon and reclaimed mainly for agriculture and settlements. Mugume says that the impact of human activities is far-reaching and threatens the integrity and sustainability of the vital wetland resources. He explained that the current and potential impacts include increased floods, shortage of building and crafts materials and reduction in fish productivity, decline in water quantity and quality, reduced grou

Uganda has loses the fight against HIV-Activists By Hope Mafaranga August 19, 2011 In Mbarara Uganda has lost the fight against HIV/AIDS because of her satisfaction of the past successes. Dorcas Amoding, the Advocacy and Communications Manager of Community Health and Information Network (CHAIN) said that the HIV situation is deteriorating in the country because the government has relaxed on the scourge hence losing the struggle against the pandemic.   She discloses that 341 people still get infected with the virus in Uganda every day with HIV while many cannot get access to ARVs. “Uganda was a model country in the world against the fight of HIV but its relaxation about the scourge has seen more than 340 get infected with the virus every day,” she said. Addressing journalists on health community reporting Friday   at Lake View hotel, Amoding said that there is need for government to change its tactics and re- package messages about the pandemic. Desmas Buregyeya, a journalis

Laws that govern oil and gas in Uganda are outdated By Hope Mafaranga June 18, 2011 In Kabarole The laws that govern the oil sector in Uganda are too weak and out dated, experts have said. The manager of International Alert Uganda, Richard Businge criticized the oil bill saying that it is not clear on the issue of the oil and gas sector and how it will be contributing to the national development. He added that Ugandan legal framework in the bill should form a bed rock for sustainable utilization of Uganda oil and gas resource. “The bill should show how much our oil brings to our coffers and how it contributes to other sectors, which is not clear as per now,” Businge said. Businge who was speaking during a regional dialogue series on oil and gas at Mountains of the Moon hotel in Fort Portal on Friday tasked the government to focus on benefiting the community around the oil areas so as avoid conflicts like in many African countries.   Businge also lashed out at the parliament the law

Many Rivers dry  up in Uganda as water scarcity hits the country By Hope Mafaranga June 18, 2011 In Uganda The water scarcity has continued to hit Uganda as many rivers, lakes and wetland dries up causing reduction in the water levels. In western region of Uganda, Mpanga River which is the eighth biggest river in Uganda as listed in the National Environment regulation 2000 of the National Environment act. It originates from  a catchment in Rwenzori Mountain  that are currently under high pressure  mainly due to deforestation of steep hills and ends in Lake George a distance of approximately 250 kilometers. It is located in south western Uganda and it is part of the greater Lake George catchment zone. The River meanders through three local Governments of Kabarole, Kyenjojo and Kamwenge serving a population of approximately Five million people who directly and indirectly derive a livelihood from this river . The Kabarole district natural resource officer Sam Mugume said that the ri