Speeches Shim
For too many families in Uganda, every month is a struggle to survive. There may be just enough money today to put food on the table and clothe the children, but if something goes wrong—an unexpected illness, the loss of a job, a natural disaster—then a family can suddenly find itself unable to cope. One of USAID’s main goals in Uganda is to promote resilience. That means improving a household’s ability to withstand, mitigate, and recover from unexpected shocks.
Dressed in a white coat with a mask on her face, Dr. Susan Adakun Akello moves through Uganda’s Mulago National Referral Hospital without fear of infection. She had just returned from making rounds in the tuberculosis (TB) ward at the hospital. Her smile is warm and welcoming as she invites visitors into her well-aerated office within the ward that is supported through the USAID Defeat TB Activity.
USAID supports Uzbekistan in its efforts to ensure quality of medical products.
Eunice Acen was married and pregnant with her first child at age 18. Like others in her community, she believed disclosing her pregnancy early would result in a miscarriage. As a result, Eunice decided not to receive antenatal care and, sadly, her fears came true: she miscarried and had to be hospitalized because of complications. “If I had attended antenatal care, these complications could have been avoided,” Eunice says as she recounts the painful ordeal of losing her first pregnancy.
The roads that crisscross northern Uganda’s Lamwo district connect a network of villages set against a vast expanse of land and sky. Far from the hustle of the nearest cities, the air is still and quiet enough that conversations can be interrupted by the sounds of passing lizards and thoughts distracted by the birds soaring overhead. Uganda’s abundant natural resources, fertile soil, stable government, and steady economic growth present distinct opportunities for its population. Despite this, large swathes of the population remain vulnerable, particularly here in the north. This is one of the poorest regions of the country, still recovering from decades of turmoil and civil war. The school dropout rate is high, as are instances of early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and alcoholism.
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