Revenue from Uganda's Minerals 2010- 2018

Industrial Minerals occurrences in Uganda

Industrial Minerals occurrences in Uganda

San Francisco and Oakland to host AIDS 2020

The International AIDS Society (IAS) has announced that San Francisco, California, in partnership with nearby Oakland, will host the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020).

To find the best host for each International AIDS Conference, the IAS conducts an extensive, open-bid process that begins 18 months before a decision is made. For AIDS 2020, we engaged more than 20 cities across the world, starting in 2016.

Our process involves an extensive evaluation that determines each city’s ability to house the meeting and its delegates, commitment to supporting scientific research and implementation, and inclusion of civil society and communities living with HIV in their local response. Each city is required to represent a cross-section of policymakers, scientific researchers and civil society as part of the bid.

It is always our preference to represent different geographies in hosting the International AIDS Conference. For many years, we were fortunate to identify willing government and community partners in resource-limited settings that allowed us to host the meeting while maintaining our commitment to access for people around the globe. For AIDS 2020, only cities in the global North completed a bid application. Even after direct engagement from IAS staff and site visits to potential hosts in the global South, we did not receive any applications.

This is understandable. Being selected as a host city for the International AIDS Conference is not a reward; it is a recognition that there is something particularly unique and challenging about the epidemic in that setting. It is a commitment by conference organizers and local partners to shine a light on strengths and weaknesses in the response. For a variety of reasons, including political climate, not every country is willing to make this commitment.

Many previous conference sites were chosen to directly challenge political and social norms. AIDS 2020 is no exception.

World Conference on Tobacco or Health 2018 announces key science

Breaking research on e-cigarettes, the impact of tobacco point-of-sale display bans, the growing trend towards flavoured cigarettes and the financial impact of smoking on economies and individuals feature in the scientific programme of the 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) Regional science presented at the conference includes smoking and HIV and TB in sub-Saharan Africa and ante-natal tobacco smoke exposure in South Africa

Thursday, 1 February, 2018 (Cape Town, South Africa)--Organisers today announced the scientific programme of the  17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, 7-9 March this year. The growing debate amongst public health practitioners around tobacco harm reduction is reflected in the conference scientific programme with research on e-cigarettes featuring prominently including a much anticipated study on Electronic cigarette use and conventional cigarette smoking initiation among youth in the United States authored by researchers based at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A ban on the open display of tobacco products in the United Kingdom was phased in between 2012 and 2015. Measuring the success of that ban, researchers from the University of Stirling in Scotland will present the study: The impact of a tobacco point-of-sale display ban on youth in the United Kingdom: findings from a repeat cross-sectional survey pre-, mid- and post-implementation. There have been growing concerns amongst tobacco control practitioners around the trend towards the manufacture and marketing of flavoured cigarettes to young adults. The impact of such a trend is the focus of a study by Brazilian researchers: Use of flavoured cigarettes in the first few puffs: a step toward smoking initiation and nicotine addiction? Data from a national survey among Brazilian adolescents. The emergence of data on the economic impact of tobacco smoking at the country and individual levels is vital too for policy making and both are addressed in the study Individual cost of smoking in a study population (US) and in the study Economics of tobacco control in Nigeria: modelling the fiscal and health effects of a tobacco excise tax change (Nigeria). “The high quality of the science being presented in Cape Town comes at a pivotal moment in tobacco control,” said Professor Harry Lando, Chair of the 17th WCTOH Organising Committee. “On the one hand we will see research being presented confirming the astounding public health progress made to eliminate smoking over the past decade but challengingly, we will also see research on trends that are currently shaping the  future  battle lines of tobacco control on a global scale.” “For the past 50 years, WCTOH has been the premier international forum on tobacco control and this year’s event – the first to be held on the African continent – is expected to attract over 2,000 researchers, scientists, civil society, healthcare professionals, policymakers and media representatives from more than 100 countries. Tobacco use is the world’s leading preventable cause of death killing more than seven million people each year,” said Dr Flavia Senkubuge, President of the 17th WCTOH. The conference will also feature a number of key sessions focusing on the upcoming challenges for tobacco control. The opening plenary session, Priorities for Tomorrow’s Tobacco Control Agenda and Sustainable Development on Wednesday 7 March will feature Head of Secretariat for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) Dr Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva. And on Thursday 8 March – International Women’s Day – WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti will be joined by Dr Lorraine Greaves, Senior Investigator at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence on Women’s Health, for the second plenary which will discuss Women, Development and Tobacco Control. While tobacco use is decreasing in many countries, evidence has shown that smoking rates in Africa are anticipated to rise dramatically. By 2030 the number of smokers in the region is projected to increase by 40 percent from 2010 levels, unless there is significant intervention. Africa continues to be aggressively targeted by the tobacco industry, as it represents an opportunity for considerable market growth. “It is highly significant that the WCTOH is taking place on the African continent for the very first time – in many ways the region is a test case for the future direction of tobacco control and its ability in the coming years to rein in aggressive interference from Big Tobacco,” said José Luis Castro, Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), the WCTOH Secretariat. The theme of the conference is Uniting the World for a Tobacco-Free Generation with an overarching focus on expediting progress to reduce tobacco use in all populations around the world – using new research and innovative approaches in public health, as well as powerful but under-used policies, including tobacco taxation and those aimed at preventing industry interference.

Life after prison: A tale of an ex-convict.

 Hope Mafaranga profiled one of the ex-convict on the challenges they face after prison. 

https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1469467/life-prison-tale-convict

Life after prison: A tale of an ex-convict.

 Hope Mafaranga profiled one of the ex-convict on the challenges they face after prison. 

https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1469467/life-prison-tale-convict

Camp life inspired me into farming

By Hope Mafaranga

Elengo training his worker how to use the machine

When we left the camp in 2006, we had nothing to turn to as most of our houses, crops and animals were destroyed by the 20 year old of the war of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) and one had to think out of the box to ensure his family survives.

 The memories of the LRA seems fresh in the mind of Patrick Alengo, 50 , a resident of Onil Village, in Aloi sub-county, Alebtong district.

He remembers the suffering as if it just happened yesterday. Alengo a father of seven and a catechist at St Nichols, Awiny said, when they returned from the camps, they had nothing to feed their children on and had no shelter at all.

 

“We use to live on aid from non-government organisations and life was a nightmare. I had to do something extra ordinary to sustain my family,” he said.

An opener

 He said one day, he attended a meeting organised by Care international which was intended to sensitising war returnees about food security and it opened his eyes.

He said the meeting restored hope in him and started thinking about farming as he used to do before the war broke out. 

His family like any other affected by war, was living in Aloi internal displaced persons camps. However his family returned when peace prevailed in 2006.

Upon coming back from the meeting, Alengo sat his wife Florence Adong down and decided to utilise their land to grow food for the family and also grow for sell to other war returnees.

“I started growing beans, maize and ground nuts for home consumption and I would sell the surplus to other people for little money,” he said.

As the region stabilised, Alengo was among the few farmers, that were growing food and he was invited to the Aloi sub-county headquarters for a farmer’s meeting.

 He said during the meeting, they were told to focus on growing crops that will generate income and uplift the standards of their living.

 How he started

Alengo shows off some of his cassava

He said the meeting discussed a number of crops that could help farmers make money and one that caught his eye was cassava growing. 

In 2007, again he sat his wife down and made a decision to sell the seven cows they got brought using the money from the maize, ground nuts and beans to open the first of land for cassava growing.

 Growing cassava

Alengo who inherited 500 acres of land from his father, started with 12 acres in 2007 when peace was returning to the region and he has gradually upscale to 250 acres. 

Value addition

 He acquired chips cutting machines which he used to cut cassava in small pieces which helps to dry the cassava and now sells to Mbale, Lira and Kenya.

He said the machine has the capacity of crushing over 5000 kilogrammes a day and because they are in small pieces it dries faster and reduces on the risk of rotting especially during rain session.

He also said the machine reduces the level of contamination since few hands touch the cassava.

 The machine is sold at sh 8.5m in agro input shops and uses only three liters of fuel every day.

Community involvement

After leaning the skills, Alengo saw the need of sharing with other members of the community and he started  Aneni Can Mega cluster group of 99 members . The group has 56 women and 43 men. He said one of the reasons of why they started a group, they wanted to get market for their cassava, fight food insecurity and increase on household income.

Market

Alengo’s support is among the over 8,000 members trained by International Fertisers Development Center (IFDC) and the organisation also linked them to market.

He said they now sell cassava cuttings to Operation wealth creation and NAADs and sell the tubers to the organisation that makes ethanol.

 

 Future plans

 He plans to buys a tractor at sh130m to easy his farming activities and currently he has sh 525m on his account which he wants to buy a bus.

“I want to venture into transport business in order to expand on his business empire,” he said.

He also wants to educate all his seven children and nine orphans he picked during the war he is taking care of up to University.

“When I picked those kids , I chose to be their father and I wanted to give them a permanent home . I will take care of them until the end,” he said.

Inspiration

 The last born out 10 and the son of Fenekansi Eyit and Norah Abiri, Alengo, was inspired by the suffering of war and wanted to keep his father’s legacy.

“Being the only boy in a family of 10, I knew that all my sisters would get married and I needed to keep the family going as a man,” he said.

Advice

He advised the youth to come back after school and engage in farming. He says this is the only sure way of creating jobs and fighting unemployment.

 He urged the youth to stop giving excuses and wasting time in gambling and betting but come back start with the smallest land they have to engage in commercial farming.

“There is money in farming because people will never stop eating, there is ready market for food crop and youth should come back to dig,” he said.

He advised farmers to stop subsistence farming but put their energies in commercial farming, to get money. 

Alengo said that farmers also need to exercise some patience so that they can get the best yield out of their gardens.

The growth  

 According to Alengo,  in one acre of cassava, a farmer needs to invest in sh 120,000 for ploughing,  buy five bags of cassava cutting  at sh 50,000, sh 50,000 for weeding and sh 80,000 for planting, which comes to sh 300,000.

 He said one acre of land is capable of giving a farmer sh 6m from the cutting and sh 5m from tubers.

 Labor

He employs 10 permanent staff at his farm who he pays between sh 80,000 to 150,000 and gives them other incentives like food, cassava cutting and recommends them for trainings in cassava growing. 

 When the weed is too much, he also hires prisoners about 40 every day and at cost of sh 4,000 each.

Challenges

His biggest challenges are weather related which he has nothing to do about them.

“ Aleptong sometimes floods and when it’s a dry session, it dries so much that we lose our crops,” he said.

Achievement

Stabilising and picking the pieces from the camp is one of the most significant achievement Alengo mentions.

Being able to get market outside Uganda, educating his children, expanding his farming and becoming popular are some of the significant gains he has attained.