BACKGROUND The first survey on sickle cell disease (SCD) done in Uganda in 1949, reported the district of Bundibugyo in Western Uganda to have the highest sickle cell trait (SCT) prevalence (45%). This is believed to be the highest in the whole world. According to the same survey, the prevalence of SCT in the districts of Mbale and Sironko in the East was 20-28%, whilst the districts of Mbarara...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) Uganda family, a sub-lineage of the MTB Lineage 4, is the main cause of tuberculosis (TB) in Uganda. Using a well characterized patient population, this study sought to determine whether there are clinical and patient characteristics associated with the success of the MTB Uganda family in Kampala. METHODS A total of ...

BACKGROUND From 1995-2000 the under five mortality rate in Uganda increased from 147.3 to 151.5 deaths per 1000 live births and reasons for the increase were not clear. This study was undertaken to understand factors influencing the increase in under five mortality rate during 1995-2000 in Uganda with a view of suggesting remedial actions. METHODS We performed a comparative retrospective anal...

2302 Cranberry Terrace, Silver Spring, MD, USA (S M Mbulaiteye MD); Uganda Malaria Surveillance Programme, Kampala, Uganda (A O Talisuna PhD); Department of Surgery, St Mary’s Hospital, Lacor, Gulu, Uganda (M D Ogwang MMed); Fogarty International Center, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA (F E McKenzie PhD); Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA (Prof J L Zi...

BACKGROUND The management of sickle cell disease (SCD) has remained insurmountable in developing countries such as Uganda, because most communities are not aware of it. OBJECTIVE To determine knowledge gaps, attitudes and beliefs of the communities about sickle cell disease in Eastern and Western Uganda. DESIGN Cross sectional descriptive study. SETTING The districts of Sironko and Mbale ...

Uganda Uganda, referred to as the 'Pearl of Africa' by Winston Churchill, has an area of 236 580 km2 and a population of about 20 million. This beautiful and fertile country varies from semidesert in the north-east to the lush shores of Lake Victoria and the mist covered Rwenzori mountains on its western border. At the time of independence in 1962, Uganda was considered a prosperous and cohesiv...

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala azar is a fatal and neglected disease caused by protozoan parasites. It occurs worldwide including north-eastern Uganda. This review gives a historical account of and reviews available literature on VL in Uganda to raise more awareness about the disease. Information was collected from: MEDLINE searches; records of Ministry of Health (Uganda), Amudat hospital ...

OBJECTIVES To identify the changes in sexual behaviour that led to the dramatic reduction in the prevalence of HIV in Uganda in the early 1990s. METHODS Seven different types of evidence were examined: (1) models of HIV prevalence and incidence in Kampala and other sentinel sites in Uganda; (2) reports of behaviour change in the primary newspaper in Uganda; (3) surveys with questions about pe...

Sleeping sickness has long been a major public health problem in Uganda. From 1900 to 1920, more than 250,000 people died in an epidemic that affected the southern part of the country, particularly the Busoga region. The epidemic has traditionally been ascribed to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, a parasite now confined to central and western Africa. The Busoga region still reports sleeping sickne...

The Internet story in Uganda dates back to April 1993 with associations to a fidonet node at Makerere University, the largest institution of higher education of the country situated in the capitol city of Kampala. E-mail services in private companies became accessible in August 1994, making Uganda one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to gain full Internet connection. In this paper, ...