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Uganda
Uganda has the highest proportion of AIDS orphans worldwide. The two-decade long conflict in northern Uganda has displaced over 1.8 million people and led to the abduction of more than 60,000 children. The situation of war-affected children and youth in the northern region of Uganda is dire, and little has been done to address their special needs. Some improvements were seen after the current administration introduced free universal primary education in the country in 1996, in the context of northern Uganda, as a way to equalise opportunities, greatly increasing gross enrolment in primary schools. In chronically food-insecure northeastern Uganda, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) runs school feeding programmes to encourage attendance.
Child soldiers
Years of brutal conflict and violence in northern Uganda have had a devastating impact on child wellbeing. The Lord´s Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted more than 25, 000 children since the conflict started in 1987, for use as soldiers, sex slaves and domestic workers. Up to 2000 women and children remained with the opposition LRA in late 2007.1 In Uganda, it has been proven that orphans most often come into contact with the law. In Eastern and Central Africa, the judicial systems are weak and underfunded and as a result, children who come into contact with the legal system rarely receive fair and humane treatment.
Illness
About 20,000 babies annually acquire HIV through mother-to-child transmission. Up to 150,000 children between 0 and 14 years currently live with HIV. Nearly half of the country’s estimated two million orphans are children of AIDS parents.2
Labour
Working children are a common sight in Uganda, where around 2,7 million children work for a living. Half of these children are between 10 and 14 years old.3 A study conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2004, concludes that an estimated 7, 000 to 12, 000 children in Uganda are affected by commercial sexual exploitation.4
Aggression
Violence against women and girls in the form of rape and other sexual crimes remains widespread in most parts of the country. Child sexual abuse is one of the most aggressive forms of crime against children, and in Uganda, around 10, 000 sex-related crimes were registered only in 2008. More than 97 per cent of the suspected perpetrators were not brought to justice.5
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Ending Legalised Violence Against Children by 2030: Progress towards prohibition and elimination of corporal punishment in Pathfinder countries
This report tracks the country-level progress that has been made to prohibit corporal punishment of children in Pathfinding Countries. It emphasizes the importance of ending corporal punishment to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.2. Furthermo
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Youth in Action Program in Uganda
Youth in Action is a six-year youth livelihood program, in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, YiA aims to improve the socio-economic status of 40,000 out-of-school young people in rural Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda. Through t
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Counting Pennies: A review of official development assistance to end violence against children
The first of its kind, Counting Pennies reviews official development assistance (ODA) to end violence against children. The report found that in 2015, total ODA spending was $174 billion and of that, less than 0.6 per cent was allocated to ending violence
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Nutrition in the WHO African Region
Today, nutrition is considered a fundamental pre-requisite to health and well-being, and a primary indicator of future human capital development. The first 1000 days of a child's life is especially crucial. Physical growth and cognitive development within
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Effect of Youth in Action on Work Readiness and Socioeconomic Outcomes: Findings from Uganda
About 89 million youth between the ages of 12-24 are part of a growing cohort of out-of-school youth, approximately half of whom live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Youth in continental Africa and around the world have "aspirations and dreams of who they want to
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Rapid Household Economy Analysis: Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Yumbe District, Uganda
Yumbe District (Bidibidi settlement) hosts about 272,2061 refugees from South Sudan. An influx of refugees to Bidibidi settlement, Yumbe District, took place starting from August 2016 due to the increased conflict, scarcity of food, and subsequent financi
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Restoring Hope, Rebuilding Futures: A plan of action for delivering universal education for South Sudanese refugees in Uganda
South Sudan’s refugee children in Uganda face an education emergency. Uprooted from their homes by famine and violence, over half-a-million have fled across the border into northern Uganda – one of the poorest parts of one of the world’s poorest countries
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Childbirth in Uganda: Stories from women and health workers
Every day, 15 women die in Uganda from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes, 94 babies are stillborn and 81 newborn babies die. Many of these deaths are from causes that are largely preventable, with mothers’ deaths caused by four major factors – hemor
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Youth Empowerment Bulgari Project
Northern Uganda has high rates in youth poverty, responding to 68% of the youth population. Many of these youth are extremely vulnerable; many were affected by the conflict with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA): they have low levels of education, face hig
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A Girl No More: The changing norms of child marriage in conflict
Led by the Women’s Refugee Council, this publication presents research begun in 2011 to document factors that promote and mitigate child marriage during conflict and displacement. These findings were used to generate recommendations to reduce the vulnerab
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Every Last Child Country Spotlight: Uganda
Save the Children is campaigning at an international and national level to achieve the greatest impact for children with the Every Last Child Campaign. Chances of surviving, learning and being protected as a child in Uganda vary significantly according to
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Every Last Child: Reaching children living in the remote areas of Uganda
Chances of surviving, learning and being protected as a child in Uganda vary significantly according to where you live. Deprivation rates amongst children are higher in rural areas (58%) than in urban areas (31%), are highest in the North (particularly in