Why Iganga, Uganda
- Iganga has a population of 680,000, of which 80 percent of the people live in rural areas
- Iganga is 70 percent Muslim, making it a predominately polygamous region with a rampant birthrate (8 children for every woman). A link between large/polygamous families with poverty, and the high level of household population (six to eight members), increases the difficulty of providing adequate coverage and quality of public services such as education, health and housing for families, especially for children.
- Iganga is located on the main highway traveling from Kenya to Kampala, and is commonly used as a truck stop. Because many truck drivers spend nights in Iganga, there is a high rate of prostitution, which makes Iganga highly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
- Of the 2.1 million orphans in Uganda, 80 percent come from poor families and 48 percent are orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The national HIV/AIDS prevalence is 6.7 percent; however, the prevalence in Iganga is estimated to be 8 percent higher than the national average.
- In the rural areas of Uganda, 79.9 percent of homes are child-headed households. The rise in the proportion of child-headed households and child laborers means arise in percentages of the illiterate, early pregnancies, and related consequences such as infant and maternal mortality rates, increased incidence of those who are infected by sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS, and drug abuse.
- In 1996, the government committed to paying for the school fees of up to four children per family. A study by Demographic and Health Survey Education Supplement found that the program caused a 58 percent increase in primary education in just the first year; however, there was a 10 percent drop in the probability that an educated child in a public primary school could pass a reading test. The data above was taken from the CIA World Factbook; Uganda Orphans Fund, http://www.ugandaorphans.com/
