Uganda has made significant strides in reducing poverty. The population living below the poverty line reduced from 56% to 31% between 1992 and 2006. If this trend continues, prospects for achieving the income-poverty target of less than 10% by 2017 remain high.

The two main indicators for monitoring hunger are the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age and the proportion of the population living below the minimum level of dietary energy consumption. Between 1995 and 2006, the proportion of underweight children reduced from 25.5% to 20.4%. The proportion of the population unable to meet the recommended food caloric intake increased from 58.7% in 1999 to 68.5% in 2006, with wide geographical divergences. The northern region reported the highest prevalence of caloric deficiency between 2002 and 2006.

Uganda has made significant strides in reducing poverty. The population living below the poverty line reduced from 56% to 31% between 1992 and 2006. If this trend continues, prospects for achieving the income-poverty target of less than 10% by 2017 remain high.

Universal Primary Education (UPE) was initiated by the Government of Uganda with the aim of increasing access to quality primary education. The government committed itself to pay school fees, provide textbooks and other instructional materials for pupils and teachers, and to meet the costs of co-curricular activities, school administration and maintenance. Although this policy was initially aimed at four children of school-going age per family, it was revised in 2002 to cover all children of school-going age.

The introduction of UPE in 1997 led to a substantial increase by 132% in gross enrollment from the pre-UPE total of 3.1 million in 1996 to 7.2 million children in 2006. In 2004, Uganda recorded a gross enrollment ratio of 104.4% and net enrollment ratio of 86%. According to the national household survey 2005/06, the net enrolment ratio was 84%, reflecting a slight decline. Uganda is, therefore, on the right path to achieving the MDG target of 100% by 2015. In addition, the gender enrollment gap in primary education has narrowed, with the proportion of girls in total enrollment rising to 49% in 2004 up from 44.2% in 1990.

Since 1990, Uganda has exercised affirmative action in favour of women with regard to admission into university and other tertiary institutions. Women applying for admission into institutions of higher learning are awarded extra points in addition to their scores to increase their chances of gaining admission. Indeed, the policy led to significant increase in the number of women at universities. The proportion of females to the total student enrollment increased from 31% in 1993/94 to 40% in 2002 and up to 42% in 2004. In primary teacher colleges, women were 48% of the total student population in 2003.

At the national level, every district has an elected woman Member of Parliament. In addition, women are encouraged to compete with men for the other constituencies – nine women won parliamentary seats after contesting with men. Thus, in the current Parliament, 89 of the 310 members are women, representing 28.7% of the legislative body. This is an improvement from the 18% registered in 1995.

Despite the improvements, however, the number of women MPs still lags far behind that of men, suggesting that the policy of affirmative action should be maintained and efforts to enhance women’s participation in politics, governance, and management raised.

The infant mortality rate, which measures child deaths before the age of one, improved to 76 deaths per 1000 live births in 2007, from 122 deaths per 1000 live births in 1991. On the other hand, the under-five mortality rate, which measures child deaths before the age of five, declined from 167 to 137 deaths per 1000 live births during the same period. Given the fact majority of infants die before their first birthday, this target is unlikely to be achievable.

The maternal health indicators for Uganda have generally remained poor in the last two decades. Over the period 1995-2000, maternal mortality stagnated at about 505 deaths per 100,000 live births. The estimated maternal mortality from the Uganda Demographic and Health survey is 435 deaths per 100,000 live births. To meet the MDG target, Uganda will need to reduce its mortality rate from 505 to 131 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2015.

Over the last few years, the government has implemented a number of interventions aimed at improving overall maternal and child health. However, data available on a few output indicators shows that although there was a general improvement in health performance over the year 2003/04, PEAP output indicators fell short of its targets. Considering that all process indicators available have fallen short of targets, meeting the goals of maternal mortality by 2015 is unlikely.

According to the 2004-05 Uganda HIV/AIDS Sero Behavioral Survey (UHSBS), 6.4% (or slightly over 800,000 people) of adult population in Uganda are infected with HIV. Overall, there has been a declining trend of HIV infection from a peak of 18% in 1992 to the current figure. The international target is to halt, by 2015, and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Uganda, therefore, seems to be well on track on this target.

But despite the sustained declining trend of HIV/AIDS prevalence, it remains a significant threat to human and economic development. Over one million cumulative HIV/AIDS-related deaths have been reported since HIV/AIDS was first recognised in the country; and HIV/AIDS remains one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in Uganda.

HIV/AIDS has orphaned scores of children. Uganda has about two million orphans, 45% of whom are the result of HIV/AIDS – yet the number is rising. HIV/AIDS has created long-term impacts on the education system, which include mortality of children and teachers. The pandemic has also adversely affected labour productivity and output in all organisations through decimating the workforce, especially skilled personnel.

Malaria remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Uganda. It accounts for 52% of outpatient department attendance, and 30% of in-patient admissions. Malaria morbidity remains high and 95% of the country is still classified as endemic to the disease. The disease is responsible for 9-14% of all in-patient deaths. However, the inpatient deaths for children under-five attributed to the disease are about double at 20-23%. Increasing cases of malaria may be attributed to increased resistance to most commonly available drugs.

There has been a positive trend in rural water coverage between 1992 and 2002, although it is still below the target of providing safe water within easy reach of 65% of the rural population by 2005 and 100% of the population by 2015.

Data from the recent Ugandan National Household Survey (UNHS, 2006) and information from the Directorate of Water Department (DWD) indicate an increase in water service coverage nationwide from a little over 20% in 1991 to almost 68% in 2006. Equally, the Uganda Population and Housing Census (UPHC) data reports a rise in water service coverage from 26% in 1991 to 68% in 2002.

Uganda was initially well endowed with environmental resources, but various reports indicate persistent degradation of the country’s natural resources, namely: declining soil fertility; deforestation, particularly outside protected areas; pasture degradation; decreasing fish stocks; and water pollution caused by discharge from industries and domestic waste, among others. This degradation impacts heavily on livelihoods of the poor by constraining their ability to increase incomes and making them more vulnerable. This environmental stress is partly attributed to the recent impressive economic growth in the country.

Uganda is reported to be losing its forest cover through deforestation. Various studies (e.g. FD, 2000; MFPED, 1994; FAO, 2000 – cited in UNDP, 2004) report estimates of varying annual deforestation rates from 550 km2 per year to 700 km2-2,000 km2 per year, primarily due to deforestation for agricultural land.

Uganda does not have specific (localized) targets for this goal. However, the PEAP is devoted entirely to the matter of developing partnerships for the realization of the development targets. Partnerships relate both to policies and mobilization of resources for financing the development process.

On the policy side, Uganda has had a stabilization and structural adjustment programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1987. This allowed partnerships between Uganda and other donors to develop throughout the 1990s to date. Uganda’s economy is open, rule-based and quite predictable. However, it is a fragile economy that could be grossly affected by political developments.

Uganda is an active participant in the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) that promotes good governance through its peer review mechanism. The peer review for Uganda that is coordinated by the National Planning Authority (NPA) at the national level and by NEPAD at a regional level is ongoing.

With regard to resource mobilization for financing the development process, Uganda is placing heavy emphasis on improving domestic revenue, which in 2004/05 was 12.7% of GDP, way below the Sub-Saharan average of 18%. The Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) projection of revenue shows a slight improvement to 13.5% of GDP in 2007/08. Uganda has decided to decrease the fiscal deficit from 10.9% in 2004/05 to 6.9% in 2007/08. The combined effect of these measures will be a reduction in the proportion of total government expenditure to GDP from 23.5% in 2004/05 to 20.4% in 2007/08.