AEGiS-IFRC: Northern Uganda: a thousand deaths a week

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Northern Uganda: a thousand deaths a week

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - July 25, 2006
Elvina Nawaguna for the Uganda Red Cross Society*

Some 1.7 million people in Uganda's far north - towards the Sudan border - are living in incredibly harsh conditions in about 200 internally displaced people's camps. Of those, the UN and other international agencies have access to only about 20 camps. The rest are 'off limits' due to the brutal fighting between government forces and rebel forces, most notably the Lord's Resistance Army, which has gone on for twenty years. About one thousand people die in these camps every week from violence or disease, most often malaria and HIV/AIDS.

For the last several years, the Ugandan Red Cross has been providing humanitarian aid to some of the camps - distributing hygiene and family kits and promoting sanitation and healthy living. The conflict is concentrated in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Lira and Apac.

New camps for the internally displaced (IDPs) are springing up. The Odokmit camp is only about a year old, sitting in the bush about 50 km from Pader town, home to some seven thousand people in 1,618 households.

Hillary Kupajo, the URCS relief officer in charge of Kitgum and Pader, says that Odokmit camp was selected for support because it is one of the new camps and is fairly isolated from others, with limited access to relief. The camp is now overflowing with displaced people from Lira, mainly victims of the so-called 'Barlonyo incident' of 2004, where more than 300 people were killed in and around the Barlonyo camp outside the town of Lira.

Approximately 300,000 IDPs are in nine camps in Lira town alone. The attackers then burned the camp to the ground, leaving another 4,800 people homeless again.

Betty Akwang is among the inhabitants of Odokmit, living in a little hut with her husband and three children - and the fourth on the way. As she washes her dishes in front of the hut the children play around. A broken jerry can and a small saucepan lie almost neglected at the side of the house.

Among Akwang's utensils to wash are a number of metallic cups, plates and a huge saucepan that she is using to wash her dirty utensils. Akwang explains that she received the utensils from the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS).

"It has made collecting water and cooking easier for me," she says, beaming. Before this, all Akwang had were two small saucepans and a small cooking pot which she used to collect water from the stream about 2 kilometres away. With her small pot and broken jerry can, Akwang and her children would have to make several trips to the well to have sufficient water for the day.

Akwang now collects water in the 20 litre jerry can that she received from Uganda Red Cross. Some of the water she transfers to her big saucepan, which has a lid to keep the water clean. Akwang is one of the over 15,000 beneficiaries of URCS's assistance programme, supported by the European Union through the Danish Red Cross. The third phase of this programme was concluded at the beginning of this year.

And people keep coming. Joel Onini, the camp commander, says that many families continue to arrive in the camp from other camps in Lira. They all come barehanded and do not have money to buy household items. "Last December there was a distribution of some items by the Red Cross," he says.

During its third phase of the Northern Uganda Relief Operation (NURO) Echo III, Uganda Red Cross distributed a variety of non-food items to several camps in Kitgum and Pader districts, including the Odokomit camp. Onini reveals that each household received a 30 litre saucepan, two small saucepans, five cups, five plates and a jerry can, and blankets according to household size.

"Most people were using the old pots to get water and to cook. Getting these pots involves going to the villages, which is insecure. It is now easier because you can carry water in the big saucepan in one trip," Onini says. But many have nothing to cover their pots with.

Hillary Kupajo explains that the camp residents receive one and a half kilogram of iodized salt every three months and three bars of washing soap per household. With the use of soap and water, there has been a remarkable improvement in the physical hygiene of the people and the number of skin diseases has dropped.

Kupajo also says that a large number of the people that came to the new camps are elderly who could not build their own houses. "We gave them tarpaulins to use as roofs," says Kupajo. Also among other relief items that Uganda Red Cross delivered to the camps were second hand clothes donated by sympathizers across the country and the Mama Bag Kit, intended to ensure safe delivery among expectant women. Since the first launch of the Mama Bag Appeal in April 2004, over 3,000 women have benefited from the contributions mainly coming from local fundraising efforts. Under the URCS's third phase of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) funded programme, 800 expectant mothers received kits.

Following the successful completion of the third phase, the Uganda Red Cross embarked on the fourth phase the Northern Uganda Relief Operation, codenamed Echo IV, which started in January and runs till December. Through the one-year project, Ugandan Red Cross volunteers provide assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as to increase malaria and hygiene awareness. Soap is distributed to families, expectant mothers receive their 'Mama Bag' kits, people tought how to avoid and deal with fires. In addition there is a campaign to increase awareness of sexual violence, which often is rife in displacement camps.

*Elvina Nawaguna is a freelance journalist working with The New Vision in Uganda.

060725
IF060703

AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2006. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2006. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .