KAMPALA- The US government has detailed the monies it has spent in Uganda on various projects in the past one year and said that they have spent nearly Ugx 3.8 trillion equivalent to US 1 billion dollars in supporting Ugandan people.
This revelation was contained in a reports issued by the US Ambassador to Uganda, Ambassador William Popp who said that the United States has had a longstanding partnership with the Ugandan people in the past 60 years.
Ambassador Popp said that US assistance in Uganda is implemented through local and international non-governmental and civil society partners, directly benefits Ugandans from all backgrounds and regions of the country.
While releasing the report, Ambassador Popp said millions of Ugandans are now living healthier, learning better, earning more, and advocating for their civic and human rights thanks to our strong partnership.
He said that for more than six decades, the U.S – Uganda partnership has resulted in the eradication of deadly diseases, saved lives, reduced poverty, advanced democratic values, prevented and resolved conflicts, promoted peace and citizen responsive governance and promoted resilience in communities and small businesses.
The report details that nearly 10,000 newborns were resuscitated in U.S.-supported facilities, contributing to a reduction in death due to breathing failure at birth whereas nearly 1.4 million Ugandans receive lifesaving ARVs through and over 1.2 million have achieved viral suppression that prevents spreading the virus.
“To mitigate the HIV risk among adolescent girls and young women aged between 10 and 24 years, nearly 175,000 girls and women received support to reduce HIV and expand their economic networks,” The report reads in parts.
According to Ambassador Popp, with funding from the US government, 2.5 million mosquito nets were distributed in 2023 that helped 3.2 million Ugandans from 770,000 houses protected from malaria where a total of 4,000 Ugandans were trained in indoor residual spraying and 5 million malaria testing and treatment kits provided to health facilities.
While speaking at the same event, the PEPFAR Uganda Country Director Mary Borgman, said they have continued to invest heavily into the country to ensure health services are accessible to all, throughout Uganda and said that they are targeting communities with a higher prevalence of HIV/AIDS including fishing communities which have been helped access services.
According to the US government, 62,000 school management committee members benefitted from U.S. funded community dialogues involving parents and community leaders to boost the quality of education in their schools, increase teacher productivity, and reduce school dropouts and also supported 1,440 at-risk, out-of-school Ugandan youth to return to school to improve their future prospects and community safety.
The USAID Uganda Mission Director, Richard Nelson disclosed that over 4.2 million books were distributed to children to help them in reading development in local languages and also completed a number of school facilities in northern Uganda.
On business, the report highlights that 183,588 Ugandans joined the U.S.-supported village savings and lending groups improving their access to credit, and nearly 45,000 individuals graduated from extremely poor living conditions to self-reliance.
“Over 230,000 electricity connections were added in hard-to-reach communities with U.S. support. U.S. supported farmers and producers to generate $74 million in sales and also set up an online seed tracking system with 114 companies to combat counterfeit seeds.”
According to Richard Nelson, the U.S. also supported conservation of over 400,000 hectares of forests, an area bigger than Amuru District and facilitated the development of 10 biodiversity laws and regulations.
“Last year we enable increased investment of companies by $19million to grow capacity to export and market locally .We brought a number of weather stations in 8 districts in Karamoja to monitor weather patterns to give information to farmers to done with the Uganda National Meteorological Authority,” The USAID Uganda Mission Director said.
However, according to the US Ambassador to Uganda, these are just a sample of the broader work that the US government has been doing in the country since 1962 when it was first opened.
