ReliefWeb

27.4 million people (2006) live in Uganda and 31% live below the national poverty line (2005/06)

Per capita income is US$338 (2004/05)

Expansion in the agriculture, construction and communications sectors has fuelled growth, which averaged 7% for much of the 1990s, though nearer 5% in the last four years

In 2005/06, 84% of primary aged children were attending primary schools (compared to 100% in the UK)

Average life expectancy (2002) in Uganda is 49 (male 48, female 51) compared to 79 in the UK (male 76, female 81) (World Health Report 2006)

Mortality before the age of five is 152 per 1000 (UDHS 2000-01)

Maternal mortality is 505 per 100,000 (UDHS 2000-01)

HIV/AIDS prevalence among 15-49 year olds is 6.4% (Uganda HIV AIDS Sero- Behaviour Survey 2004/05)(1)

The UN estimated at the end of 2005 that 1.7 million displaced people are living in camps in northern Uganda

Population Growth Rate is estimated at 3.2% (Uganda 2002 Population and Housing Census)

68% of households have access to safe water (UNHS 2005/06)

The Presidential and Parliamentary elections held on 23 February 2006 were the first multi-party elections in Uganda for 25 years.

Election observers expressed concerns about lack of a level playing field in the run up to the Elections. However on polling day voting was generally well administered, transparent and competitive.

DFID: Working to reduce poverty in Uganda

Making aid effective

DFID supports the Government of Uganda's effort to implement its Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).

The 2004 PEAP sets out the country's ambitions of eradicating mass poverty and of becoming a middle income country in the next twenty years. It argues for a shift of policy focus from recovery to sustainable growth and structural transformation.

A new joint strategy for development assistance to Uganda has been agreed by twelve of the country's main development partners and more may sign up. The Uganda Joint Assistance Strategy (UJAS) sets out how we will work more effectively together to support the government to implement the PEAP.

A key instrument for our support is Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS). PRBS is when a donor provides funds directly into a partner government's own financial system to support their own poverty reduction programmes. Transferring resources directly to a partner government's budget gives them more money to spend on, for example paying doctors and teachers and building schools. When circumstances are right, DFID believes that PRBS is the aid instrument most likely to build long term ability of governments to deliver services to their people whilst helping to build stronger accountability between the state and their citizens. We only provide aid in this way where we are satisfied that the Government gives sufficient priority to poverty reduction and has sufficiently open and transparent financial systems. In the 2006/07 Uganda financial year DFID gave £70 million of aid to Uganda; £35 million as PRBS.

Other donors providing PRBS are: Germany, World Bank, African Development Bank, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Norway and the European Union.

Governance

Poor governance is a cause of poverty. People suffer when governments don't allow participation in political life, provide access to justice, deliver adequate public services or control corruption. Working with the Government:

- DFID is helping to strengthen public financial management systems in both central and local government.

- DFID is helping to establish the institutions required to fight corruption in Uganda. We are financing the Government's public service reform programme which is improving the government effectiveness.

- DFID is providing support to both Parliament and Civil Society to help to improve government accountability.

Health

Our support to the Government through budget support has helped Uganda to achieve the following results:

- Immunization increased from 41% (1999/00) to 89% (2005/06).

- New outpatient attendance in Government and PNFP health units increased from 0.4 to 0.9 attendances per capita between 1999/00 and 2005/06 respectively.

- 3000 Health workers have been trained and recruited.

- By 2004/05 68% of approved posts have been filled by trained health workers.

- More now needs to be done to increase the percentage of births attended by skilled delivery care (only 29% took place in health facilities); contraceptive prevalence; and address shortages of essential drugs in health facilities (only 27% of health facilities reported no drug stock outs)

HIV and AIDS

DFID has provided £7.4 million to tackling HIV/AIDS in Uganda, and we will provide a further £9 million over the next 3 years. This has helped Uganda to achieve the following results:

- Uganda has made significant progress in scaling up treatment. To date 90,000 have been able to access therapy.

- HIV prevalence in Uganda has stabilised over the last five years, following a reduction during the 1990s. Currently, 6.4% of Ugandan adults aged 15-49 are infected with HIV.(2) Since 2000, national prevalence reduction has stagnated. The number of new infections is increasing, demonstrating the huge and ongoing challenge of tackling the epidemic.

Education

Budget Support has helped the GoU to deliver improvements in education:

- Pupil enrolment nearly doubled in a year, jumping from 3.1m in 1996 to 5.3 m in 1997, reaching 7.4m by 2004.

- As a result the government has: recruited an additional 70,000 teachers; built 50,000 new classrooms; supplied 20m new textbooks; and introduced new policies to improve efficiency, promote gender equity, tackle HIV and fight corruption.

- The rate of pupils completing primary education has increased from 27% in 1996 to 48% in 2005.

- Major challenges remain, including making more children complete primary education and improving their learning achievement. The Government recognises this and is taking action including introducing more flexibility in education.

Humanitarian

In total our humanitarian assistance in northern Uganda in 2006/2007 was just over £17 million. This support has helped to provide:

- Monthly food rations (contributing to feeding 1.3 million people living in Internal Displaced Persons (IDP) camps for 2 years)

- Motorised water systems for IDPs - Construction latrines for IDPs and latrine blocks for schools

- Malaria treatment and bed nets

- Basic essential medicines

- Measles and polio vaccines

Trade & Growth

DFID supports the implementation of the government efforts to transform agriculture through policy support to the Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA) Secretariat. DFID also supports private sector development by helping Government-led efforts to reduce the costs of doing business in Uganda. Uganda has experienced significant economic growth for over a decade.

Making progress against the Millennium Development Goals

Uganda has made substantial progress towards achieving the MDGs, although more needs to be done if all are to be achieved. Uganda is on track to meet the income poverty MDG. In 2005/06, 31% of the population lived below the national poverty line compared to 56% in 1992/93. It has also made progress on primary education. 84% of children are enrolled in schools (2006/06) compared to 62% in 1992 (UBOS household survey data) and gender equality in schools is now at 98% (2004 EMIS).

For more information about DFID's work in Uganda please visit www.dfid.gov.uk. If you are a journalist and wish to know more about DFID and its work to reduce poverty in Africa please call DFID press office: 0207023 0600.

Notes:

(1) It is important to adopt some caution about progress towards achievement of the HIV/AIDS MDG. The indicator of achievement is the spread of HIV/AIDS "has been halted and reversed". infection rates remain high, presenting a risk that prevalence rates may once again start to rise

(2) It is important to adopt some caution about progress towards achievement of the HIV/AIDS MDG. The indicator of achievement is the spread of HIV/AIDS "has been halted and reversed". infection rates remain high, presenting a risk that prevalence rates may once again start to rise