Uganda Archives - Humanosphere

Uganda

US Evangelical Sued for Inciting Anti-Gay Sentiment in Uganda |

It’s so bizarre it can seem funny. But, for some, it’s deadly serious. Uganda’s parliament looks likely to pass a new law that would make homosexuality illegal.

The original bill went so far as to include the death penalty. The controversial nature of Uganda’s proposed anti-gay legislation has attracted some media attention globally, but only now are more details trickling in regarding the influence some American conservative Christians have had in promoting the bill and the anti-gay agenda of some leading Ugandan politicians.

The details are emerging thanks to a lawsuit that has been brought against Massachusetts evangelical Scott Lively, founder and president of Abiding Truth Ministries, for his anti-gay activism in Uganda. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Justice, anti-gay, evangelicals, homosexuality, Scott Lively, Uganda

December 3, 2012 | 12:38 PM | By Tom Paulson |

PRI’s The World: Cancer’s global reach |

PRI’s The World, in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, today launched a series of stories examining cancer in the developing world which includes a fantastic interactive map (below is a just a screen grab):

PRI's The World

Joanne Silberner, a Seattle journalist, friend and colleague who formerly produced many prize-winning reports on health for NPR, traveled across the planet to document the fight against cancer in poor countries with few resources.

Silberner’s extensive radio series, to be aired beginning this week on PRI and also published online as written text and podcasts, begins in Uganda where a number of Seattle efforts — like this project focused on breast cancer — have been underway for years aimed at boosting the ability of poor nations to fight this killer and to also get cancer higher on the global health agenda.

FILED UNDER: Health, cancer, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Joanne Silberner, PRI, The World, Uganda

November 20, 2012 | 2:00 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Rwandan-backed rebels take Congo city Goma |

A rebel army widely believed to be backed by the Rwandan government has taken over Goma, a city in eastern DR Congo bordering Rwanda. Many are concerned that this action could spark a much larger regional war.

Flickr, Pan-African News Wire

Col. Sultani Makenga of the rebel forces formerly known as M23, now the Congolese Revolutionary Army.

This is a big deal folks. Remember the last time you didn’t pay attention to what was happening in this neck of the woods? Remember that movie, Hotel Rwanda? Rwandan President Paul Kagame is a darling of the west, but he also seems to be backing this illegal military invasion of a neighboring country. How will the world respond? See news reports listed below: Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Basics, Congo, militias, Paul Kagame, Rwanda, Uganda, United Nations, war

October 9, 2012 | 12:48 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Uganda’s Health Minister on malaria, corruption and collaboration |

Tom Paulson

Ugandan officials Tim Lwanga and Christine Ondoa on Seattle visit

Uganda’s been in the news a lot lately:

An outbreak of deadly Ebola (now declared over).
The country’s celebration of its 50th anniversary of gaining independence from Britain (along with the perhaps less-celebrated 26th anniversary of President Yoweri Museveni’s refusal to relinquish power).
The next phase of the bizarre “social-mediated” hunt for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.
Uganda’s crackdown on the ‘crime of homosexuality.’
An update on the corruption probe, started in 2009, of the country’s mismanagement of foreign money donated to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

So, you can imagine, I had a lot of questions for Uganda’s Minister of Health Christine Ondoa, a pediatrician and pastor, and one of her traveling companions, Ugandan Parliamentarian Tim Lwanga. Ondoa has been in Seattle for the last few days to meet with a number of local organizations, talking about collaborating on projects aimed at improving health in the poor East African nation.

“The main challenges are the infectious and communicable diseases, especially malaria,” said Ondoa, who while in town met with folks at Gates Foundation, PATH, World Vision and also at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to discuss the Seattle cancer center’s ongoing project with the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala.

(I suspect the Fred Hutch folks might chafe at the claim malaria is Uganda’s biggest health problem. The cancer community is part of a broader campaign out there contending non-communicable diseases like cancer deserve equal attention in Uganda. As my friend and local journalist colleague Joanne Silberner has reported, cancer kills more people than HIV, TB and malaria combined.)

Uganda has all of the typical health problems of a poor African country, but Ondoa says malaria does deserve special attention Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, cancer, Christine Ondoa, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, malaria, PATH, Pilgrim Africa, Tim Lwanga, Uganda, World Vision

July 31, 2012 | 2:57 PM | By Daniel Drake |

Ugandan President calls on citizens to help quell Ebola outbreak |

By Daniel Drake

Two more people have died and six others quarantined after an outbreak of Ebola was confirmed in western Uganda this weekend.

In a state broadcast yesterday, President Yoweri Museveni called on Ugandans to help stomp out the outbreak by avoiding physical contact and reporting symptoms quickly.

“I appeal to you to first of all report all cases which appear to be like Ebola, and these are high fever, vomiting, sometimes diarrhoea, and with bleeding,” Museveni added. “When you handle this case well you can eliminate Ebola quickly.”

Government officials confirmed the outbreak at a press conference Saturday, causing some patients to flee Kagadi Hospital where victims are being treated. At the conference, officials confirmed 20 infections and 14 deaths.

President Yoweri Museveni, speaking at the London Summit on Family Planning on July 11, 2012. Photo via DFID - UK Department for International Development on Flickr.

The virus appeared a month ago in the Kibaale district—105 miles west of the capital—but was initially misdiagnosed because it didn’t trigger the usual symptoms.

Officials are now trying to contain the outbreak and keep it away from the nation’s capital Kampala. One death has already been confirmed within the city—a health worker who is believed to have traveled there independently from the Kibaale district after her three-month old child died.

“So far no infections have occurred,” a WHO spokesperson told the Associated Press.

There is no treatment or vaccine against Ebola, which is transmitted between both humans and non-human primates through close physical contact. The virus causes hemorrhagic fever, which kills the majority of its victims. Health care workers have frequently been infected while treating Ebola patients. (Reuters)

Officials are containing the outbreak by isolating anyone suspected of infection and asking them who they were in contact with recently—a technique known as “contact tracking.” (NPR)

See Also:

FILED UNDER: Health, Ebola, fever, global health, kampala, kibaale, Museveni, Uganda, virus

July 30, 2012 | 10:45 AM | By Tom Paulson |

The Hot Zone virus, Ebola, reappears in Uganda |

Ebola, the highly deadly virus made infamous by the film and book The Hot Zone has re-emerged in western Uganda.

Here’s a clip from Kenya’s NTV news (or, if you prefer, you can watch two guys at CNN talk about it):

Though horrible in terms of its effects on most of those infected, the outbreak reportedly has so far killed only 14. Ebola outbreaks often burn out fairly quickly because the virus kills its victims so quickly, reducing the spread of the virus. The AIDS virus, for example, spreads much better because it takes so long to sicken its host.

This time, however, people are a bit more worried given that someone with Ebola, apparently infected in the west, turned up in the nation’s capital city of Kampala. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni responded by making an urgent public plea:

“Ebola spreads by contact when you contact each other physically… avoid shaking of hands, because that can cause contact through sweat, which can cause problems,” said Yoweri Museveni. “Do not take on burying somebody who has died from symptoms that look like Ebola — instead call health workers because they know how to do it… avoid promiscuity because this sickness can also go through sex.”

FILED UNDER: Health, Ebola, Uganda

March 28, 2012 | 9:45 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Seattle doctor to launch breast cancer detection project in Uganda |

As an example of how cancer is no longer viewed solely as a health care issue of the rich world, a physician from Seattle plans to launch a pilot project studying the use of portable ultrasound for breast cancer diagnosis in Uganda.

Dr. Constance Lehman, a radiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, wants to see if using the device in selected communities can improve detection and treatment success rates of this common cancer and killer.

“In developing countries, breast cancer is detected much later than in countries with established screening programs,” Lehman said in the statement announcing her project. Her goal is much earlier detection with referral to the Uganda Cancer Institute, a research and treatment facility Fred Hutch helped establish in 2008 in Kampala.

“In addition to social stigma and shame associated with a breast cancer diagnosis, many barriers impact Ugandan women’s access to care,” Lehman said. “By the time these women arrive at the Uganda Cancer Institute, in most cases their breast cancers are advanced, and treatment options are limited. At this time, most women diagnosed with breast cancer in Uganda do not survive.”

The ultrasound breast cancer diagnosis study is being funded by a grant from GE called the “Healthymagination Cancer Challenge.”

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide and has been gaining recognition as a threat that needs addressing in the global health field, which has traditionally not focused on chronic diseases of the rich world.

FILED UNDER: Health, Science, breast cancer, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Uganda

March 21, 2012 | 11:31 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Post-Kony campaign issues in Uganda: Zombie disease, the oil curse and weird connections |

Wikimedia

Now that the frenzy caused by the Stop Kony viral video has declined somewhat — with its meteoric success as a social media campaign targeting an African warlord, followed by the bizarre public indecency of the campaign’s leader — let’s consider where we are at with this and some other news items out of Uganda:

The “nodding disease” mystery: Baffling illness turns Ugandan children into violent zombies

Fears of the oil curse: Ugandan communities fear coming oil boom

An African’s view of American humanitarians: The White Savior Industrial Complex

How the push to capture Kony may fuel land grabs: Ugandan communities face second genocide

Ugandan military steps up attacks on opposition: Uganda’s army launches brutal crackdown on insurgents

Kony video flops in Uganda: And the Kony campaign gets linked to anti-gay U.S.-based religious group

That last one, about the Kony 2012 organization Invisible Children being linked to virulently anti-gay Christian organizations, sounds a bit stretched to me. Frankly, I can no longer keep up with this story and all of the allegations. But at least it increased the world’s attention to many issues in Uganda … even if Kony is now in Congo.