Uganda

D

Local Government

Uganda is divided into 10 provinces, which are subdivided into 39 districts and 154 counties. The counties are divided into sub-counties, which form the basic administrative units.

E

Health and Welfare

Health services were severely depleted by war and are being restored; as AIDS is a growing problem, a national programme to raise public awareness has been set up. In 2004 there were 12,086 people per doctor and the infant mortality rate was 66 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008. In 1990, 3.4 per cent of the country’s GDP was spent on health care.

F

Defence

The Ugandan army was reorganized in the early 1980s. Discipline remained lax, however, and the government acknowledged in 1984 that unauthorized troop activities had caused the deaths of thousands of civilians. The regular army was absorbed into the National Resistance Army (NRA) after the latter took power in January 1986. The NRA included 45,000 personnel in 2004. Military expenditure in 1997 was estimated by some experts as possibly being as high as 20 per cent of the national budget. The official proportion was 12 per cent. In 2003, Uganda spent US$154 million (2.4 per cent of its GDP) on defence.

G

International Organizations

Uganda is a member of the United Nations (UN), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the African Union, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

VI

History

A composite of four kingdoms and many peoples, Uganda was a focal point of European rivalry before being ceded to Britain in 1890.