Uganda and Busia District:

Located in East Africa, Uganda is home to approximately 28 million people.  Labeled the “Pearl of Africa” by Winston Churchill, Uganda is rich in natural resources including fertile soil and plentiful rainfall.  With over 80% of the workforce employed in agriculture, Uganda is a largely rural society with one of the lowest urbanization rates on the continent.  Since it’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, Uganda has suffered through a series of political upheavals and devastating civil wars.  After the corrupt and politically repressive regime of Uganda’s first Primer Minister, Milton Obote, was overthrown in a military coup, Idi Amin became Uganda’s most notorious tyrant.  Seizing the government from Obote in 1971, Amin consolidated power around himself and systematically wiped out all political opposition.  By the time he was overthrown in 1979, Amin was responsible for the death of over 300,000 Ugandans.  Following seven more years of civil war between Milton Obote’s supporters and a rebel group known as the National Resistance Movement (NRM), Yoweri Museveni, leader of the NRM, seized power and restored peace. 

Since 1986, Uganda has embarked on a mostly positive path towards democracy and economic development.  Although President Museveni’s government has been stained by allegations of corruption, Uganda has won considerable praise from international observers and Western governments for the nation’s commitment to economic development, democratic progress, and the battle against HIV/AIDS. 

Busia District is located in the southeast corner of Uganda on the border with Kenya and the north shore of Lake Victoria.  Busia district is home to around 250,000 people, 83% of whom live in rural farming villages.  The main economic activities are farming, fishing and cross-border trade.  It is estimated that over half of Busia’s population lives in poverty with an estimated 20,000 orphans.  Despite Uganda’s remarkable success in combating HIV/AIDS on a national level, Busia district, and Busia Town Council in particular, remains a glaring exception to national trends with an HIV prevalence rate over three times that of the national average.  The acuteness of the AIDS crisis in Busia is due to the district’s position as a major cross-border trading center.  The trans-African highway, which extends from the port city of Mombassa in Kenya into northern and western Africa, cuts directly through Busia Town Council.  An HIV corridor was created along this highway as truck drivers camped from town to town and abetted the spread of HIV/AIDS through the use of prostitutes.