Uganda Health Journalists Win Global Population Media Award

 January 2015

Uganda Health Journalists won this year’s Population Institute 35th Annual Global Media Awards competition with their special edition on reproductive health policy.

It was produced with support from the Population Reference Bureau (PRB)’s USAID-funded IDEA project.

The edition is the sixth edition of the periodical, The Health Digest, which is produced by the Health Journalists Network in Uganda (HEJNU), made up of health reporters dedicated to increasing awareness about health care issues and improving health literacy among Africans.

The Health Digest won the award for the Best Article or Series of Articles. The Population Institute honoured all the Uganda health journalists at a function held in Washington D.C on January 15th 2015.

Esther Nakkazi, a freelance science journalist and the president of HEJNU picked up the award on their behalf. Also present for award ceremony was Chris Conte the senior consulting editor of The Health Digest and Deborah Mesce from PRB.

Esther with Bob Walker and Bill Ryerson (Award Ceremony)

Population Institute officials said they were proud to recognize this year’s winners for their profound insights and their journalistic excellence. “Their voices deserve to be heard and their efforts acknowledged.”

The team of Uganda health reporters who won endeavored to go beyond the everyday reporting on reproductive health; they delved deeper into the problems and analyzed attempts to resolve them from a policy perspective, said a statement from Population Reference Bureau that funded the edition. “With robust reporting and careful editing, they produced a magazine deserving of an award.”

The edition carries 19 articles scrutinizing Uganda's reproductive health policies and their implementation, and lays a pathway to improvement.

The articles, among other subjects, examined the economic benefits of family planning, the reasons why many women are not using contraceptives, new strategies for addressing gender-based violence, and the need for better sex education in the schools.

It also examines the country's high rate of maternal mortality, the brain drain of health workers, and the possible consequences of Uganda's rapidly growing population. It also compared Uganda’s policies with its neighbors; Rwanda and Kenya.

HEJNU was founded in 2011. It has 80 members – all journalists who report on heath regularly. Its members represent all major Uganda media houses. The organisation also has partnerships with various non-governmental organisations, academic and research institutions.

HEJNU publishes The Health Digest, twice a year and convenes a health journalism convention each year. HEJNU also recently started holding monthly science cafes on HIV prevention supported by AVAC, advocates for HIV prevention to end AIDS. The first one held on the 13th of January 2015 was about microbicides and kick started by Dr. Patrick Ndase, Sylvia Nakasi and Angelo Kaggwa.

Previous issues of The Health Digest have focused on maternal health, cancer, kidney disease, preventive health, epidemics and the latest was on vaccines. All these can be found on HEJNU’s website, www.henju.ug.

Another Ugandan organisation also won in the Best Film category. The Hope in the Basin: Voices of the People, a 20 documentary, highlights the success that an integrated population, health and environment (PHE) program is having in helping to protect Africa’s Lake Victoria.

The film documents how local communities and organizations—like OSIENALA (Friends of Lake Victoria) and the Ecological Christian Organization—are coming together to restore fish stocks in Lake Victoria.

The film also looks at how Pathfinder International is saving and improving lives by making family planning and reproductive services available to women living in the Lake Victoria basin.

ends
For more information contact HEJNU (estanakkazi@gmail.com)

Ask your Government Website Could Stamp Out Corruption in Uganda

By Esther Nakkazi

After a lot of walking and begging the officers at the Ministry of Lands, an older man who was trying to transfer his land title talked to me about his experience. He was frustrated. I am an interested party because I was trying to buy this land from him. But it was 6 months of appointments, time wasting and no results. I just wondered why such a simple act could take such a l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g time.

Well, finally the lands officer was out with the problem. There were no Mailo land papers to print the title on to. Really? For six months! I was pissed off. I talked to a friend and he said that was just what the lands office was, the officers in there are untouchable.

He told me the President of Uganda had once given free land to a group of people for development, when they went to process the title and transfer it, an officer named his price and told them if they did not want to pay it let them go ahead and inform the President, but they would never get it any way without him! They paid up.

I was baffled! The President! And who I am? Anyway, I attended this training by the ICT Policy Centre for Eastern and Southern Africa (CIPESA) http://www.cipesa.orghttp://www.cipesa.org    

It empowered us as journalists to ask the Government http://askyourgov.ug  just about anything. So when this conversation was on, I sent out a request to the concerned ministry, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. It was sent in November 19, 2014. 

It was basically about the frustration that there were no Mailo land papers to print on titles. If you read between the lines you know what that means! I got a reply ten days later on the 26th of November 2014. And I was just happy that someone had responded. All information officers working for Government agencies are supposed to respond to citizens' concerns. It is their job and soon it will be used to rate their efficiency at work. Here is the response to my request, it read:

Dear Esther Nakkazi,

It is not true that Mailo papers are unavailable! However, I need to know which office/Officer mis-informed you so that the Ministry takes the necessary action.

The land transaction costs are known and do not include anything such as 'payment for Mailo papers...'
I attach two informative documents that will assist provide you with the required information and confirm the fees paid for various land transactions.

Incase of any further concerns, do not hesitate to contact the Ministry on 0791 622 191 for assistance and clarification.

Your information request is deemed responded to by the Ministry, unless otherwise.

Dennis Obbo
ATI Implementation Focal Point
MLHUD

Mr Obbo also sent me these two documents; 

Lands Ministry Service Costs.pdf

http://askyourgov.ug/request/67/response/45/attach/html/2/Lands%20Ministry%20Service%20Costs.pdf.html

Guide to clients At the Ministry and MZOs.pdf

http://askyourgov.ug/request/67/response/45/attach/html/3/Guide%20to%20cllients%20At%20the%20Ministry%20and%20MZOs.pdf.html

I will one day send through the corrupt officer's name. But I think this is one way of fighting corruption and I intend to use this website to the maximum. I hope you can use it too. Fight Corruption in Uganda!

Ramathan Ggoobi; Uganda shilling depreciation rate scary and political

 By Ramathan Ggoobi

Last week, I delivered a lecture entitled, "The State of Uganda's Economy" to the officers of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) at the Oliver Tambo School of Leadership in Kaweweta, Nakaseke District. It is a lecture I have regularly given to the UPDF officers at their different schools since 2010. 

In this lecture, I attempt to bring our heroes in the military uniform to speed as far as our economy is concerned. In brief, we look at some of the facts about Uganda’s economy that every Ugandan should know, and their economic implications. For example, what are the implications of having a very small economy? An economy with a total GDP (gross domestic product -- the value of the total output of goods and services produced in the country) of only about U.S. $25 billion (or Ushs. 67 trillion), and per capita GDP of about $628 (or Ushs1.7 million) a year. 

Someone may ask, is $25 billion so small to make Uganda a small economy? Oh yes. To understand how badly off we are, one may compare this with personal incomes of some rich individuals. Don't even think about the Bill Gates or Warren Buffets of this world. Think about young entrepreneurs like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The 30-year-old young man is worth about $33 billion. He can, therefore, buy the entire Uganda, with all our cows, coffee, beans, minerals, etc. and retain enough change to buy Rwanda. We are really very poor, small economies.  

What is even more worrying is that our per capita income has failed to grow despite the continued growth of GDP. In 1970, Uganda's per capita income was U.S. $133. Malaysia also had a low income per person, about $392. Today, Malaysians enjoy incomes as high as $10,500 while Ugandans continue to struggle to make ends meet using very low incomes. 

Why the paradox? Why has Uganda's GDP per capita failed to grow as much as it is doing in Malaysia and other countries, despite the somewhat impressive growth in total GDP? In 1970, Uganda's total GDP was about U.S. $1.2 billion. As we have seen above, it has since grown to $25 billion. However, when it comes to people's incomes, they have by and large been stagnant. Why? 

Foreign dominated economy 

A number of factors contribute to this anomaly. First, Uganda's growth is not inclusive. Inequality in income and wealth is high. The Gini-coefficient (the index  used to measure inequality) stands at 0.39. This is quite high Gini index, implying that the growth in GDP goes to the very few individuals who already have a lot, leaving the masses with low, stagnant incomes. 

Secondly, the high population growth rate of Uganda is making it difficult for Ugandans to raise their incomes. The recent census confirmed that our population is growing at above 3%, with fertility rate of 6 (i.e. every woman in Uganda, on average, produces 6 children). This means that growth of per capita income is competing with the high population growth rate. And the former is losing the race.   

Thirdly, a very large proportion of Uganda's GDP is produced by foreigners. Just look around Kampala city and count the number of serious businesses that are owned by Ugandans. Not many. Most big businesses, especially in the fastest growing sectors such as telecommunications, banking, large scale manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade (large super markets and stores), etc., are owned by foreigners. Where are Ugandans concentrated? In small, informal businesses -- boda boda, vending the products that foreigners produce, hair salons, running bars, etc. Thus, the GDP is going to the foreigners who repatriate it to their home countries.        

Another factor contributing to low growth of Uganda's per capita incomes the high marginal propensity to import (MPM). I have always questioned our trade policy which allows imports of all kinds, ranging from toothpicks to popcorns, bathing sponge (ekyangwe), and all sorts of items that we can easily produce here. I often hear people wondering how we have failed to produce a pin! A pin may be sophisticated, but what about toothpicks? 

In Uganda, we cannot sharpen a tree to pick our teeth! Someone has to pose as a "businessman", board a plane, and go to China to import boxes of these sharpened pieces of wood. We spend 33% of our incomes importing such items, and we wonder why our incomes are stagnant yet those of the Chinese and Malaysians are growing  miraculously.     

Regional security challenges  
Lastly, our incomes are stagnant partly because of our low levels of capital accumulation. This is on the account of very high marginal propensity to consume (MPC), currently standing at about 87%. This means that on average, Ugandans spend 87% of every additional shilling they earn. We save and invest only about 13% of our incomes. Thus we cannot make our incomes grow when we haven't saved and invested a substantial proportion. 

Another aspect I often discuss for our soldiers, and my students of Ugandan Economy at Makerere University Business School, is the current state of economy of Uganda. Bank of Uganda projects that the economy will this year grow at between 5 and 5.5 percent. This growth, according to authorities, will be supported by high public investment in infrastructure, and also by the expected recovery of domestic demand.

However, there are risks that might impede growth of the economy, including the weak global economy. Europe has failed to recover as had been projected. This implies that our exports might be affected and remittances from Ugandans living and working in those countries might dwindle. 

Secondly, this year we expect low foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow. This is on the account of the foregoing factor, and the political uncertainty that has been created by the apparent power struggles within the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party. Regional security challenges are also contributing to our economic hardships. South Sudan, one of our largest markets in the region, has failed to stabilize. There is also a looming conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia and Uganda over the Nile waters. There is also a lot of unfinished business in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). All these are likely to negatively impact the economy in 2015.    

Political bickering within NRM
Our trade deficits are widening, now standing at about 15% of GDP ($2.5 billion). Our import trade has enlarged far more than the export trade, now standing at $7.8 and $5.3 billion respectively. How do we finance the trade deficit? By using current transfers, particularly grants and remittances, and through investment inflows. However, owing to the economic hardships that Europe is undergoing, grants and remittances are reducing yet exports are also not doing well (due to global & regional challenges seen above). 

This is partly the reason the shilling is depreciating at a scary rate. Average mid-market exchange rate in April 2014 was Ushs. 2,530 per US Dollar. By the time I am writing this, (Jan. 15, 2015) it was Ushs. 2,898! Why has the shilling experienced rapid depreciation in the last couple of months? Bank of Uganda issued a statement last week attributing the current depreciation to speculation. It was a diplomatic way of decrying the negative expectations created by the political infightings within the NRM. 

I have on several occasions warned that political uncertainty ahead of 2016 might return the economy to the post 2011 crisis. Because of the political bickering between you, Mr. President, and your former friend and political ally, former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, investors are reluctant to bring their dollars. This has left the economy with very few dollars yet demand for them to import is rising. The situation is likely to remain the same, or even get worse, as we approach 2016.        

However, although speculative tendencies may be blamed for the current spate of rapid depreciation, Bank of Uganda should come out clearly tell Ugandans what has made the shilling weak over the year. In 1990, it required a Ugandan to pay only Ushs. 70 to purchase one U.S. dollar. Today we are paying nearly Ushs. 2900. Why? 

Our weak balance of payments (the trade deficit seen above) is the main reason for this long run depreciation. We are importing a lot and thus increase the demand for the dollar, yet our exports have not grown to earn the dollars. Thus the price of the dollar has to keep rising.  

Other factors include, the low levels of productivity among Ugandans which makes it difficult to produce high value products for export, the effect of global market volatility, and of course the increased demand for the dollar by Ugandans going to China, Dubai, and India to do business (import all sorts of products). 

Next week, we shall see why our domestic prices don't respond quickly to global trends. I have heard many Ugandans wondering why when oil prices dropped on the world market, pump prices in Uganda remained high. We shall explain the reasons behind this anomaly.

Health Journalists Network in Uganda Wins Global Media Award

Press Release: Congratulations HEJNU

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2014/health-journalists-award.aspx

(December 2014) The Health Journalists Network in Uganda (HEJNU) has won this year's top Global Media Award with its special edition of Health Digest www.hejnu.ug on reproductive health policy. The 43-page publication was produced with support from PRB's USAID-funded IDEA http://www.prb.org/About/ProgramsProjects/IDEA.aspx project.

The special edition carries 19 articles scrutinizing Uganda's reproductive health policies and their implementation, and lays a pathway to improvement. The publication examines a range of issues, including the country's high rate of maternal mortality, why many women choose not to use contraceptives, the brain drain of health workers, and the possible consequences of Uganda's rapidly growing population. It also compared Uganda with its neighbors: One reporter traveled to Rwanda, and the group reached out to a Kenyan reporter who contributed an article about her country.

Esther Nakkazi, president of HEJNU, and her editorial team of female as well as male reporters endeavored to go beyond the everyday reporting on reproductive health; they delved deeper into the problems and analyzed attempts to resolve them from a policy perspective. With robust reporting and careful editing, they produced a magazine deserving of an award.

The Population Institute has honored journalistic excellence with the Global Media Awards  http://www.populationinstitute.org/newsroom/news/view/65/for 35 years. The Health Digest won the award for the Best Article or Series of Articles.

Hacking Higher Education

By Esther Nakkazi

After two decades of teaching at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosafety, at Makerere University, Professor John David Kabasa, had heard enough of the same request from his students.

Upon completion of studies, after graduation, most of his students would beg him to tip them on any employment opportunities and not only in their field of study, but they could do ‘anything’.

This was perplexing for him and a time for inner reflexion and questioning. Was the education the students obtained from Universities a lie? Was University education just enslaving students in Africa? Why could they not find employment after attaining high education?

He observed that students with veterinary medicine and agriculture degrees or food science could not do the basics like making yoghurt, those who eventually got employed as Agricultural officers were only playing a supervisory role to farmers. And the farmers were looking down upon them because they were not practical.

Yet most parents had sacrificed a lot to get students through higher education, some selling land, properties. But at the end there was no employment and no skills acquired.

“We need a major overhaul on the ideology to higher education in Africa. We are disoriented. We are still using the colonial model, which is not ideal for Africa and the products are on the streets crying,”  Kabasa says.

“We auctioned research and realised that University graduates only use less than 50 percent of knowledge acquired. We then tried to find out what else could they do with their time,” says Kabasa.

Kabasa then came up with an original innovation to higher education, an alternative model, that is transformative, affordable and uses a competence based approach but also enrols everybody, irrespective of their education level. It is a modularised degree.

“This University model welcomes all. Its focus is to transform communities. It fast tracks education. It is anchored onto production. Whoever is recruited is against poverty. It graduates enterprises not people. It also engages the University with the community,” says Kabasa.

It is the first of a kind around Africa, everything is different.

At one graduation ceremony, students served guests with yoghurt, instead of the usual soft drinks. They were showing off acquired skills, at least they had something to show. The guest of honour was elated.

In this model students are skilled. Skills are imparted to groups of about 300 people in for instance hay making, making soap from pig fat, making honey etc. And the model, so far, is popular so much so that it has government funding as well as cultural and religious leaders support.

The model, referred to as Afrisa-Africa, is also envied by students enrolled in the mainstream University system, because typically, students make money immediately. Entrepreneurship is emphasised, it is engaging, practical and community based.

University Education in Africa and Community Engagement;

“Higher education in the East African region is modelled to the European system, to solve society issues in Europe not Africa,” says Professor Mayunga Nkuya, the executive secretary Inter-University Council for East Africa.

Professor Nkuya says the only way Universities can be relevant to is to be attached to communities, 'it is the only way they will remain relevant.'

However, although participants attending the first East African Networking Meeting in the field of Community University Engagement, held in Kampala, Uganda, 27th-28th October marvelled at its way of how through this a University can engage the community, some scholars still feel it is not the right way for a University to engage the community.

But the inventor, Kabasa, disagrees. To him this is the best model for Universities. He says Universities are resisting it, and they have a right to, it has many implications especially on the types of professors that will be deployed.

“Will they measure their professorship from the number of articles produced in peer-reviewed journals as has been the practice or by the number of households transformed?”

“It is a good innovation. Everyone is now realising that there is a mismatch between University graduates and what the industry needs,” says Dr. Lucy Kithome the Activity Manager from Education and Youth at USAID-Kenya.

“We need a paradigm shift in higher education. Our graduates are roasting maize in Kenya. We graduate engineers but Chinese are building our roads,” said Kithome in Kampala.

Dr. Paul Nampala, the program Manager for Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), which promotes community Action research by Universities says that ‘Universities ought to realise that they do research with communities.

“Universities should know that communities have a lot of knowledge and coping mechanisms that have made them resilient,” he says.

Nampala observes that although most Universities had taken off in different directions in terms of University Community Engagement, the new Universities have a chance to get it right.

Dr. Okot Alex, from the School of Distance and Lifelong learning at Makerere University does not differ much. He says this approach is an innovation in the way Universities teach and will improve the employability of students who can then participate in national development. 

But insists the University should engage the community at the same level, without the ‘I know it all’ attitude prevailing now, since knowledge is not the prerogative of any community.

Kabasa says the current system of higher education in Africa is promoting unemployment and supervisors of peasants. His model will produce a new generation of Africans who are skilled, productive, entrepreneurial, developmental and can transform nations.

But should this new generation be produced by Universities? 

Universities for Research not Skilling;

George L Openjuru, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Gulu University, says although the Afrisa model is a good innovation, it still uses a top-bottom approach while the new higher education network for East Africa formed wants the community and the University to be engaging at the same level.

Dr. Vincent Ssembatya, the director Quality Assurance at Makerere University says its is true that the country needs skilling at that level, but the University is not the best place to do it. It can be done by tertiary institutions or you will transform the University into a community college.

Dr. Nampala says the model leans more on skilling communities yet that is not a job for a University. "A University should get a ready made product- a school leaver, not a school drop out."

Nampala says quality has to be paramount for Universities to thrive, but with the Afrisa model, experience is considered key yet it is not a qualification.

“Universities are tasked with generating knowledge. If they start skilling communities they will fail at their task,” he says. If the Universities engage with communities by skilling them, it will waste researchers’ time, whose job is to solve community problems by finding solutions and giving innovations to non-governmental organisations to implement.

RUFORM funds the Afrisa model, and has given them funds to study the rural financing model. Once they get the knowledge they will hand it over to implementers.

So for Dr. Nampala, the Afrisa model, is filling a gap where non-governmental organisations and line ministries have failed to do their work- that of skilling communities.

“We need to give a thought to the world that we really want and how we get there. We need a new form of education,” says Professor Budd Hall of the University of Victoria in Canada, co-holder with Rajesh Tandon of the UNESCO chair. “Community University Education can inform the curriculum.”

Road Injuries and Heart Disease Killing more Ugandans today

By Esther Nakkazi

Boda Bodas or motor cycles are popular in Uganda. They beat the traffic jam, are fast and take you to your next meeting and you arrive on time. At the same time, Uganda like all other developing countries is coping with increasing deaths from non communicable diseases.

So if you live in Uganda, today and you are not HIV positive, you are more likely to die from road injuries or ischemic heart disease. More-so, you will die of road injuries if you are a man. In Uganda, road injuries took a greater toll on men, killing 9,917 males and 3,100 females in 2013.

If all is well, then, you will live to a ripe age of 58.2 years if you are a man and 61.6 years if you are a woman because average life expectancy has increased to those levels. By contrast, women lived an average of 53.6 years and men had a life expectancy of 49.9 years in 1990.

But you will most likely not die from from African trypanosomiasis and diarrheal diseases in Uganda. Mortality from African trypanosomiasis dropped 95% between 1990 and 2013. In 1990, these diseases killed 46,571 people. Twenty-three years later, they claimed 30,480 fewer lives.

This is according to a new, comprehensive analysis of trend data from 188 countries published in The Lancet on December 18, "Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

The research was conducted by an international consortium of researchers coordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

According to a press release from Meropa Communications, the study shows that the leading killers in Uganda were HIV/AIDS, malaria, and pneumonia, accounting for 34% of all deaths in 2013.

For young people aged 15 to 49 years old, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis were the top two causes of death, resulting in 43,815 lives lost in 2013.

For older people, 70 years and older, stroke claimed the most lives last year. But more women 6,209 and 4,363 men’s lives died of stroke. And children under the age of 5 years, it was malaria, killing 22,449 children in total.

Progress in Uganda and Internationally:

But generally there was progress with less mortality from a number of diseases that used to take a large toll on the country.

"We have achieved great progress in reducing mortality from a number of diseases, reflecting our country’s investments in improving health for its citizens," said Mr Opio John Nelson, Assistant District Health Officer for Environmental Health from Lira, Uganda.

"But we are still seeing children dying and deaths from other conditions are rising. These data are critical to understanding where we’ve been – and then where we need to go in order to save more lives in the future."

Globally, people live an average of 6.2 years longer than they did in 1990, with life expectancy rising to just under 72 years in 2013. Women showed a slightly larger average gain (an increase of 6.6 years) than men (a rise of 5.8 years). Improvements in health, reduced fertility, and shifts in the world’s age patterns have driven these global gains in life expectancy.

Out of the 188 countries included in the study Uganda ranked 166th for women and for men for longest life expectancies. In 2013, Andorra had the longest life expectancy for women (86.7 years) and Qatar had the longest for men (81.2 years). Lesotho had the shortest life expectancy for both women (51.2 years) and men (45.6 years).

"The fact that people are living longer in most parts of the world is good news but we must do more to address health disparities," said IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray.

"Only with the best available evidence can we develop policies to improve health and save lives."

Worldwide, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) claimed the most lives, accounting for nearly 32% of all deaths. Much global progress has been made in reducing mortality from diseases such as measles and diarrhea, with 83% and 51% declines respectively, from 1990 to 2013.

Globally, a number of diseases that have received less attention relative to others are some of the biggest causes of premature death, particularly drug use disorders, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and cirrhosis. 

The gender gap in death rates for adults between the ages of 20 to 44 is widening and HIV/AIDS, interpersonal violence, road injuries, and maternal mortality are some of the key conditions responsible. For children under 5, diarrheal diseases, pneumonia, neonatal disorders, and malaria are still among the leading causes of death.

Two diseases, HIV/AIDS and malaria, followed very different mortality trends from other diseases. The global death toll from both diseases peaked around 2005 rather than 1990, with deaths from HIV/AIDS and malaria declining 22% and 30%, respectively, from 2005 to 2013. Malaria mortality in Uganda peaked in 2004, with 52,573 deaths, but then fell 44% by 2013.

Leading causes of death in Uganda, with the number of lives lost

1990 (deaths)                                                  1. Diarrheal diseases (38,336)          2. Pneumonia (24,529)                     3. Malaria (22,872)                           4. HIV/AIDS (19,912)                   5. Tuberculosis (12,319)                 6. Malnutrition (9,616)                     7. Preterm birth complications (8,961)                     8. Meningitis (8,960)                         9. African trypanosomiasis (8,235) 10. Measles (8,067)

2013 (deaths)  1. HIV/AIDS (52,939)  2. Malaria (29,545) 3. Pneumonia (28,046 4. Diarrheal diseases (15,710) 5. Tuberculosis (14,738                    6. Road injuries (13,017) 7. Preterm birth complications (10,838) 8. Neonatal encephalopathy (10,733) 9. Stroke (10,572) 10. Malnutrition (9,549)

Find the paper at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61682-2/abstract

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2013 is part of an ongoing effort to produce the most timely and up-to-date understanding of what kills and ails people worldwide.

Thousands of collaborators worldwide work together to generate annual estimates of deaths by cause, years of life lost to disability, and rates of premature mortality and illness. To make these data as useful and relevant to policymakers and country leaders as possible, findings from the GBD study can be used at the global, regional, national, and even subnational levels to track trends in health over time.

Researchers found a widening gap between countries with the lowest and highest death rates from a given disease – a potential sign of increasing inequalities in health. They also emphasize the importance of measuring local disease burdens, as the health challenges found in one corner of a country can widely vary from those experienced a few hours away.

ends

Dr. Edward Bbaale: Should Many Ugandans be Engaged in Agriculture?

By Esther Nakkazi

Uganda's agriculture sector cannot generate jobs yet it is a leading employer in Uganda, with over 8 million people or over 70 per cent of the entire labor force. In terms of productivity, it also has the lowest output per worker researchers say.

This implies that the majority of workers in Uganda are holders of low paying jobs, with very low prospects of overcoming the problem of poverty says Edward Bbaale, a researcher with Center for Basic Research and School of Economics at Makerere University.

So, is it necessary for so many Ugandans to engage in agriculture? Especially, at this point in time, when the demographic dividend is generating a window of opportunity to raise per capita income and thus reduce poverty?

Even when Uganda records growth in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, they are jobless while growth in the services and industrial sectors is job generating.

A paper by Bbaale entitled ‘Is Uganda’s growth profile Jobless?’ points out that more people should be engaged in other productive activities and sectors rather than agriculture if Uganda has to reduce on its poverty levels and create jobs for the youth.

The research published in November 2014, was funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

This paper set out to establish the link between economic growth and employment in Uganda for the period 2006 to 2011. Data is from World Development Indicators, Uganda National Household Panel Survey (2011) and United Nations Statistical Data Base. Researchers adopted the Job Generation and Decomposition (JoGGs) Tool of the World Bank during the analysis.

Overall, the promising sectors for poverty reduction through productivity and employment generation in Uganda by order of importance are; services sector, industrial sector and manufacturing. "If adults manage to engage in these sectors , the demographic shift will have an important poverty reducing impact," says Bbaale.

The services sector was employing over 2 million Ugandans, that is 19 percent in 2006 and 22 percent in 2011 of the labor force. It had all its contributions positive; contributed 39 percent to output per worker and 14 percent to the growth in employment.

“If East African governments are to cope with the pace at which new young entrants will come into the job market in the next decade, there is an urgent need for new innovative approaches to accommodate this youth bulge,” said Eugenia Kayitesi, Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR-Rwanda).

Bbaale, however, cautions that agriculture still remains important because it is a major employer in Uganda.

Policy Question:

Since agriculture generates low income for its workers this puts a policy question on the productivity of jobs held in the agricultural sector.

Apparently, agriculture contributes to a decline in the employment rate by 6.5 percentage points. But there are positive increments noted in the services and industrial sector with 1.73 and 0.5 percentage points, respectively.

Of the -20 US dollars registered in per capita output, agriculture and manufacturing contributed negatively with -29 and -0.8 US dollars, respectively. Services and industry contributed positively 7.7 and 2.1 US dollars, respectively.

These findings combined with high productivity in services and industrial sectors give a great prospect to these sectors in an effort to reduce poverty via employment creation.

Agriculture being the major sector in Uganda, a small contraction in employment led to a very big negative effect on growth such that the positive effect in services and industry could not offset it.

Youth Employment:

IPAR-Rwanda in collaboration with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) convened a high level conference on innovative approaches to incorporate youth into labour markets in the East African region in November 2014 in Kigali, Rwanda.

In his presentation at the conference, Bbaale said at least 25 percent youth could not find suitable work and 64 percent were discouraged from looking for work because they thought that a job search would be a futile effort. 9 percent did not know where to seek for work.

For those who managed to get employment, 52 percent did not have a contract with the employer, they had an oral contract with an unlimited duration. Some youth were self employed and most of them raised their own start-up capital for their businesses.

Most youth’s reason for becoming self employed were voluntary because they had a desire to become independent and more flexible hours of work, said Bbaale of his research.

Bbaale says governments in East Africa should be mindful of the influx of the youth to urban centres. And the education systems should orient towards relevancy to the job market.

“Supporting youth to find productive employment is a global priority, the situation in Africa could not be more urgent,” said Arjan de Haan, Program Leader of IDRC’s supporting inclusive growth programme.

He also found out that very few youth have benefited from the government youth fund. The majority of the youth also argued that government programmes were not addressing youth unemployment and were not innovative.

“Research and evidence coupled with experience sharing between countries in the region, and giving the youth a voice are all critical ingredients to providing policy makers and practitioners with the tools that are needed to address this growing challenge,” said Arjan de Haan.

ends.