Stories written by Rosebell Kagumire
Rosebell Kagumire has been a multimedia journalist since 2003 with extensive experience using new media tools. She covers conflict in Africa’s Great Lakes region. Rosebell’s blog won the first African journalist blogging award from Panos Institute West Africa and Global Voices. Her blog—which covers Uganda politics, development issues in Africa, post-conflict concerns and women’s right—has been quoted by major international media outlets Rosebell is an Internet Freedom Fellow with the U.S. Department of State and in early 2011 she completed a fellowship with the World Health Organisation reporting on the health workforce crisis. She has also worked with international media and campaign groups on several human rights issues in Uganda and the region. She holds a master’s degree in media, peace and conflict studies from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. | Web

UGANDA: Post War Reconstruction Ignores Victims of Sexual Violence

Ester Abeja has experienced both physical and emotional atrocities. She was captured by Uganda's feared rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and was forced to join them. But not before the soldiers made her kill her one-year- old baby girl, by smashing her skull in, and then gang raped her.

An elderly woman holds up a poster at the Constitutional Court where the maternal health case was postponed.  Credit: Rosebell Kagumire/IPS

UGANDA: Maternal Deaths Against Constitutional Rights

When Valente Inziku’s wife, Jennifer Anguko, went into labour they had decided she would go to the local referral hospital just to ensure a safe delivery.

Need to Protect Millions Displaced by Environmental Disasters

Heavy rainfall means that over 500,000 people living in mountainous areas in Uganda need to be relocated as they live in areas at risk to landslides.

Ugandan soldier with AMISOM Credit:  TS/IRIN

SOMALIA: Rising Human Cost of AU Mission

On Feb. 19, the morning after Uganda's presidential elections, Michael Muhamuza called home and spoke to his cousin and his brother; a regular check-in with the family.

Internally displaced Somalis outside Mogadishu. Credit:  Abdurrahman Warsameh/IPS

SOMALIA: New Partners for Peace Needed

The four-year old African Union Mission in Somalia is fighting a desperate defensive action in support of a transitional government that is "corrupt and inept", according to the International Crisis Group

South Sudanese expatriate voting in Kampala, Uganda. Credit:  James Siya/IPS

SOUTH SUDAN: Women Dream of Independence

John Garang, the revered late leader of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, once said that women are the "the poorest of the poor and the marginalised of the marginalised". As the reality of an independent South Sudan approaches, the region's women have vowed they will not remain second class citizens.

Nchisi Forest Reserve, Malawi Credit:  Thomas Wagner/Wikicommons

Southern Africa Collectively Gearing Up For REDD

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is moving to support its member countries to tap into benefits from the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) framework.

Uganda

UGANDA: Carbon Finance May Not Benefit Forest Communities

Uganda has lost more than two million hectares of forest since 1990, mostly converted to farmland by a growing population of smallholders. Carbon finance through the REDD programme is often presented as one way to arrest this destruction, but only if the benefits clearly translate to the grassroots.

Women at workshop on ICTs and violence against women in Namaingo: conflict over access and privacy is common in Uganda. Credit:  Susan Kinzi/IPS

UGANDA: ICT Boom for Economy, A Bust for Some Women

The rapid growth of the ICT market in Uganda has been greeted with optimism over its potential to boost the country’s development. But less attention is being paid to the increase in gender based violence due to the use of information and communications technology.

Women at workshop assessing the government's recovery plan for the north: sexual violence is an aspect of the conflict that has not been addressed. Credit:  Rosebell Kagumire/IPS

UGANDA: Sexual Crimes Go Unpunished

Thousands of women were raped during Uganda’s war but there have been few government efforts to assist them, especially with psychosocial and counseling services.

Cervical cancer screening in Soroti, Uganda. Credit:  Rosebell Kagumire/IPS

Cancer Treatment Out of Reach for Ugandan Women

Josephine Adongo's heart leapt when she heard that two doctors from Kampala were offering free medical exams in Soroti. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer at a regional hospital more than a year previously, but unable to afford to travel to the capital for treatment.

Despite free and compulsory primary education, just 25 percent of Ugandan children entering grade one eventually graduate from primary school. Credit:  IRIN

AFRICA: More Commitment to Education Needed

African nations lack the political will to provide access to primary education to all children, according to the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), a coalition of organisations in 100 countries.

HEALTH-UGANDA: WHO Happy With Counterfeit Bill; Activists Not

The Uganda office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the country’s National Drug Authority are satisfied that the new version of the controversial Counterfeit Goods Bill does not threaten the importation and production of generic drugs by conflating them with fake drugs, as the first draft of the bill did. But health rights activists are not convinced.

HEALTH: Uganda Authority Finding Less Counterfeit Drugs

Uganda’s National Drug Authority (NDA) says the failure rate among samples of medicines tested at their laboratories has fallen by 15 percent from the early 2000s. This serves as a possible indication of a drop in the availability of counterfeit medicines in the East African country.



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