USEFUL STATISTICS
National Strategic Plan | National Statistics | Kampala

NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN : Expected Outcomes

Anticipated outcomes of the plan
The National Strategic Plan (NSP) for the next 5 years (2007/8-2011/12) takes cognisance of the challenges that lie ahead to reduce new infections, prevent mother-to-child transmissions, and facilitate universal access to essential services. The critical emphasis is to integrate the continuum of HIV prevention, care and treatment services; and to reverse the trend in the number of people living with HIV. In addition, the plan aims to consolidate and scale up access to ART, while providing much improved social support to reduce the socio-economic impacts of the epidemic and reduce vulnerability to HIV infection.

The NSP is aiming toward universal access to HIV and AIDS services for prevention, care and treatment, and social support.
* The cornerstone of the NSP is the aim to reduce the incidence levels of new HIV infections by 40% by 2012; this is the basis for prioritising resource allocations to fully fund the most cost-effective HIV prevention measures. Achieving this cornerstone is projected to have the following impacts on the AIDS epidemic:
• Increased funds and commitment to prevention-related interventions could decrease the annual number of new infections from 135,000 to just over 100,000 by 2012. This would imply that as many as 150,000 to 160,000 new infections could be averted over the period of the NSP, thereby saving lives and decreasing future expenditures on treatment. One key intervention will be including male circumcision within the broader framework of male reproductive and sexual health.
• Support for orphans and vulnerable children would increase significantly during the NSP, improving the proportion of OVCs receiving public support to 54%. In the long term, prioritising prevention would also reduce the incidence of OVCs and other associated socio-economic effects since far fewer people would be getting infected with HIV, thereby reducing the numbers of persons getting sick and dying from AIDS.
• The allocation for care and treatment could support an increase in the number of people receiving ART from 80,000 in 2005 to 216,000 by 2012. This level of scaling up would substantially address the support needs for those already on treatment as well as starting treatment for those newly needing it. Indeed, the proportion of those needing ART who do receive it would increase, reaching about 80% in 2011/12. This increase in coverage would extend life for many people and avert additional 60,000 – 90,000 AIDS-related deaths during the NSP period.
(Source: Uganda AIDS Commission, National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan 2007/8 – 2011/12, p.19)

NATIONAL STATISTICS
Background | Key Statistics | OVCs| HIV/AIDS

Background, Uganda: the Country
Uganda is a land-locked country in East Africa, bordered by Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Eastern Africa. The majority3 of the estimated 21 million people4, representing over 20 ethnic groups, live in rural areas. Over 80% of this population are engaged in the agriculture sector, mainly in subsistence livelihoods reliant on seasonal rainfall, while the manufacturing sector remains poorly developed, particularly outside the capital, Kampala.

Uganda is well endowed with natural water sources, including several large lakes. Unlike neighbouring countries, some 18 million hectares of arable land is available for cultivation, although less than one third is under cultivation. Regional differences exist in terms of ethnicity, culture, topography (from mountains to semi-arid conditions), farming systems (fishing, various crop systems and livestock keeping), and the level of infrastructure development, service delivery and governance.

Uganda has a young population – over 50% are aged between 1 and 15 years – with an average life expectancy of 51 years.5 Households are large, with an average of 5 persons, with a high dependency ratio, including many orphans. AIDS has had a serious effect on the population in Uganda. Some 1.9 million people are infected with HIV,6 and although the epidemic has peaked in urban areas, the incidence of infection is still rising in rural areas.

The history of Uganda since the 1970s has not been peaceful. The end of the civil strife in 1986, which brought the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Government to power, left most of the country’s infrastructure and services devastated. Although most of the country has lived in peace since this time, insecurity resulting from insurgency still persists in Northern and Western Uganda.

Since 1987, Uganda has embarked on a period of rapid economic development, achieving broad-based macro-economic growth, and stability. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in real terms expanded at an annual rate of over 6 % during the past 10 years, while inflation has remained at less than 5% p.a. However, it is questionable whether this growth has trickled down to result in improvements in the lives and livelihoods of the poor.
(Source: Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Process - National Report New Edition. p2,3.)

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Uganda, Key Statistics
• population: 29 million
• population increase: 3.2% per year (2006), the world’s 3rd highest growth rate
• HIV+ people: 1.1 million (2006)
• AIDS orphans: 2.2 million
(Source: MSI Uganda. MSI Uganda Factsheet. http://www.mariestopes.org.uk).

Orphans & Vulnerable Children in Uganda?
(Source: Ministry of Gender, Labour & Social Development. What is the situation of OVC in Uganda? http://www.mglsd.go.ug/ovc/Indicators.htm)
General demographic data
• 26.7 million people living in Uganda (2005)
• 14 million children under age 15 living in Uganda (2005)
• 15.3 million children under age 18 living in Uganda (2005)

Demographic Data on Orphans
• 2 million orphans living in Uganda (2004)
• 14 % of all children in Uganda are orphans
• 23.9 % of all orphans are double orphans (2002)
• 35 % of all orphans are maternal orphans (2002)
• 41.1 % or orphans are paternal orphans (2003)
• Estimated number of orphans due to AIDS: 890,000 (45.6% of all orphans)
• 63 % of all orphans, 51% of single orphans, and 100% of double orphans are living without both natural parents

Data on other vulnerable children (these figures include orphans)
• 84,000 children (aged 0-14) are living with AIDS (2003)
• 0.2% (22,697) of children with multiple disabilities (2002)
• 1.7% (228,112) of children with moderate disabilities (2002)
• 29% of children with any disability (aged 6-17) not in school
• 54% of women (below age 18) who were married or in union (2002)
• 39% of the population living in poverty (2002/3)

 

Street children in Kampala
@HCU, 2008

 

Data on children in conflict situations
• 4,190,200 children in conflict areas (2004)
• 960,000 children living in camps for internally displaced people
Access to Services (Families with orphans and other vulnerable children)
• 62,679 families receiving education services (2003)
• 133,142 families receiving material services (2003)
• 27,199 families receiving nutrition services (2003)
• 20,319 families receiving psychological services (2003)
• 33% of orphans and vulnerable children whose households received free basic external support in caring for the child (2004)
• 15.4 % orphans reporting receiving educational support (2004)
• 9.7 % orphans reporting receiving psychosocial support (2004)
• 5.3 % orphans reporting receiving material support (2004)
• 3.5 % orphans reporting receiving food support (2004)

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Uganda & the HIV/AIDS Fight
Uganda is one of the least urbanized countries in Africa, with over 80% of the population living in rural areas. About 40% of the population is below 15 years of age.

In an estimated total population of 23 million, 1,050,555 million people living in Uganda are estimated to have HIV/AIDS. About 120,000 have developed AIDS. Nearly 80% of those infected with HIV are between the ages of 15-45 years, a most economically productive age group and often fenders of families. Adolescent girls between 15-19 years are 4-6 times more vulnerable than their male age mates.

Children have felt a gruesome impact. About 2 million children of less than 18 years are orphans with one or both parents dead. They experience orphan hood at an age when parental guidance and socialization is most desirable. The quality of care, education, nutrition and socialization among these children is often poor.

A study carried out in southwestern Uganda shows that school absenteeism in AIDS affected households is significantly higher among girls than boys.
The epidemic has wiped out many of the gains in child survival, a key indicator in human development. The huge numbers of clinically ill patients has increased the workload of an already over-stretched health referral system, further weakening it. Only half of all Ugandans have access to good health care. In child mortality, 134 children out of every 1000 live births do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday.

Households supporting AIDS patients are poorer as they spend a lot of their resources and time in caring for the sick. These households also have a higher risk of getting infections.
(Source: Uganda AIDS Commission, June 2006. The HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Prevalence and Impact.)