Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - December 31, 2006
The year 2006 saw the health sector marred by by controversies and Uganda slipping off the ladder as a global setter in the HIV/AIDS fight.
The Uganda AIDS Commission found that the number of Ugandans living with the disease rose from 5.6% in 2000 to 7.1%, the sixteenth international AIDS Conference in Toronto Canada, heard. This, coupled by the mismanagement of the Global Fund, cast a grim picture on a country that has been a role model in the HIV/AIDS fight.
Earlier in the year, Sheik Allagholi Elahi surfaced with claims that his Khomeini drug that cures the disease.
As the year came to an end, the Police and the National Drug Authority raided his residence and seized his 'drugs'. This was the second time Elahi was being arrested over the products.
The Ministry of Health established that his claims were false and that people who he said he had cured, were still HIV-positive. Elahi's products, Khomeini I, II and III, are herbal products that contain honey and olive oil, which could be bought at any shop.
Mismanagement of the Global Fund dominated the media throughout the year. Justice James Ogoola's report implicated former ministers Jim Muhwezi, Mike Mukula and Dr. Alex Kamugisha in misappropriation of the Global Fund. It recommended that they refund over sh80m and further be investigated for prosecution. The President dropped from the cabinet as donors demanded that all suspects be punished.
Heads rolled when drugs estimated at about sh936m, supposed to serve for one-and-half months, expired at the National Medical Stores. The head at the organisation, Robert Rutaagi and another official, David Bagonza, were sent on forced leave, pending investigations into the expired life-extending Anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
News from research that circumcision halves the risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS was received with a pinch of salt. Scientists in the United States said circumcision reduces the risk of a man picking up HIV infection, following two major trials in Uganda and Kenya.
However, the report warns that people should not slip back on the need to continue to protect themselves through safe sex. The public is warned that findings do not mean circumcision prevents HIV/AIDS, but only reduces the chances of contracting the virus.
However, the good news in 2006 was the improvement of living standards in Uganda. The UNDP report 2006, showed progress in human development, in terms of a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. It said the life expectancy of Ugandans improved from 47.3 years in 2003 to 48.7 in 2005. The water coverage levels increased from 39% in 1996 to 51% in 2003. This was an equivalent to an additional 5.3 million people having access to safe water in 2003, most of them in rural areas.
In October, it was good news for the fight against malaria. President Yoweri Museveni gave the go-ahead to a US-based corporation to use bacteria to control malaria. The European Union (EU) also gave Uganda the greenlight to use DDT in the fight against malaria. It said that DDT is not a problem in relation to food exports from Uganda or other African states.
For years the EU had warned that DDT use could lead to a ban of food exports from Uganda if traces of it were found in consignments. About 80% of Uganda's agricultural exports go to the EU.
The number of doctors treating every 100,000 people increased from five to eight between 1990 and 2004. Now, a doctor treats 12,500 people instead of 20,000 people.
In East Africa, Tanzania has the worst doctor-to-patient ratio of two doctors for every 100,000 people and Kenya has the best of 14 doctors for every 100,000 people.
Uganda also recorded a slight improvement in the infant mortality rate, which slipped from 81 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2003, to 80 in 2004. Out of every 1,000 live births, 80 babies die. It is a negligible improvement, explained perhaps by the high number of pregnant women who do not deliver in healthcare centres. Only 39% of pregnant women deliver in hospitals.
As the festive season approached, the Ministry of Health warned that it will soon issue a directive that all deaths of mothers and infants under five, which occur in health units, be reported to the ministry. Dr. Stephen Mallinga, the minister for health, said President Yoweri Museveni was interested in knowing the circumstances under which mothers in labour and children under five years died, even after reporting to health units. Mallinga said health workers in whose hands the deaths occurred would have to submit detailed reports to the President.
In Parliament, Mityana MP Sylvia Ssinabulya moved a motion urging the Government to improve maternal health. She said Uganda was one of the countries with a high maternal mortality rate of 505 deaths per 100,000 live births. The motion asked the Government to set up a maternal mortality control programme.
Heavy rains and floods saw over 92 people die of cholera nationwide. The most affected areas in Kampala were Kisenyi, Kawempe, Makindye 1, Katwe 1, Katwe 11, Bukasa and Salaama in Makindye division. In November, the disease had spread to nine districts. The health ministry said affected districts were Nebbi, Arua, Yumbe, Koboko, Moyo, Adjumani, Kasese, Bundibugyo and Kampala. In Kampala, the first case was reported on November 4.
As bird flu wrecked havoc across the globe, Uganda was alert and put all measures in place just in case the deadly avian influenza reached here. Threats of bird flu spilling into Uganda saw the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, rushing to acquire bird flu test kits. But there were no cases of bird flu reported.
Away from diseases, the first baby from a frozen embryo in East and Central Africa was born in Uganda. The embryo had been frozen for one year. And the debate on whether schools should abandon posho for rice is likely to go on in the New Year.
The Vice President, Gilbert Bukenya, called for a ban of posho in schools in favour of rice.
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