Hope Mafaranga

Laws that govern oil and gas in Uganda are outdated By Hope Mafaranga June 18, 2011 In Kabarole The laws that govern the oil sector in Uganda are too weak and out dated, experts have said.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

Seeing mothers giving birth to HIV free children is my happiness- Mirembe By Hope Mafaranga  15, June,2011 In Uganda Many refer to her as musawo (doctor) while others regard her as Senga (auntie) because of her effort in helping women to reduce the rate of mothers to child transmission of HIV/Aids and endless encouraging them to give birth in health facilities.  Evelyn Mirembe a volunteer at Kagadi hospital in Kibale district said that she choose to care for mothers exposed to HIV after knowing her HIV status 15 years ago. Mirembe discovered that she was HIV at a time when awareness about the epidemic was not enough and people could not talk about the disease openly and stigma was at its peak.  Mirembe who was born in Bukulula in Masaka district in Central Uganda disclosed that she had to run away from home so that she hides away from people who knew about her status. “I had to run away from home so that I will die in different area where no body knew about me and my body will be ta

KASESE, 12 January 2011 (PlusNews) - Some Muslim women in western Uganda are demanding that a new HIV prevention programme for Muslims include condom promotion, going against calls by local religious leaders for the programme to be limited to messages on faithfulness and abstinence. "The holy Koran allows Muslim men to marry four wives, but men still go out of wedlock and have extra-marital relationships," Jazira Mugisa told IRIN/PlusNews. Mugisa said the money from the new project should be used to sensitize men on the use of condoms. The four-year programme, localized to the western Ugandan district of Kasese and funded by the US Agency for International Development, is to be led by the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council. Local Muslim leaders have called for the funds - an estimated US$43,000 - to be used to promote fidelity within marriage and abstinence among unmarried people. Uganda's national HIV prevention programme - which targets all sections of society - emph

[KAMPALA] Banana stems, maize and other crop waste will be turned into charcoal briquettes in Uganda in an effort to reduce the number of trees chopped down for cooking fires. The project, funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), will train 600 farmers across the country to make briquettes using portable metal kilns that can be moved between farms, according to Maxwell Onapa, deputy executive secretary of the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST). A lack of modern and affordable fuels, such as gas, electricity and solar power, makes wood charcoal and firewood the preferred sources of domestic cooking fuel, but this is damaging the environment through deforestation and soil degradation, said Onapa. The kiln, which requires two people to operate it, takes about 20 minutes to convert 6–8 kilogrammes of biomass into 2–3 kg of char powder. This is mixed with a binder in the form of starch paste to make briquettes, using a screw extruder, which can either be han

The government of Uganda wants people to use Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT) for treating malaria but the treatment is too expensive and there’s not enough available of this medicine.  Malaria is the leading cause of death in Uganda killing 70,000 to 110,000 people per year, mostly pregnant women and children below five years.   The World Health Organization strongly recommends to use Artemisinin Combination therapy (ACT), as a second line treatment after oral chloroquine fails to heal malaria.   Dr. Richard Ndyomugyenyi, Director of the malaria control program in the Ministry of Health said the Government of Uganda switched to ACT in 2005 after the malaria parasite became resistant to chloroquine.   But the problem is that ACT is very expensive. One dose costs between seven and twelve US dollars. Most people in rural areas, where malaria is the most severe, cannot afford this treatment. Thirteen percent lives on less than a dollar per day.  And if they can afford, the avail