Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development
In January 2023, Ministry of Health declared the end of the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Uganda. The declaration followed conclusion of two incubation cycles of 42 days since the discharge of the last confirmed case on 30th November 2022. A total of 164 cases were registered (142 confirmed and 22 probable) with 55 confirmed deaths and 87 recovered patients. Overall, the case-fatality ratio was 47%.
Co-generation involves the use of a heat engine or power system to simultaneously generate electricity and useful heat. It is procurement of two forms of energy from one fuel source. It is one of the leading technological advancements for achieving fuel efficiency. Under the right circumstances, power generation systems can achieve 50%-200% gains in efficiency or more over their current setup.
After a 5 year joint venture with the One Petroleum Limited (OPL) consortium, Uganda National Oil Company took over sole management of the Jinja fuel depot. The consortium comprised of One Petroleum Limited, One Petroleum Uganda Limited, and Mbaraki Bulk Terminal Limited.
The terminal was established in the 1970s and holds up to 30 million litres of petroleum products including petrol, jet fuel, kerosene and gas. It will be supported by Kampala Storage Terminal which is almost complete and the proposed Mpigi facility slated to have a holding capacity of 300 million litres.
Government continues to prioritize infrastructure development as an enabler of Uganda’s industrialization agenda by providing productive infrastructure for job and wealth creation. The Parish Development Model under the Infrastructure and Economic Services pillar places emphasis provision of necessary infrastructure to spur economic activities at the parish.
Uganda registered excellent performance at the World Schools Sports Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, with a collection of three gold medals in September 2022. The athletics team powered to a three-gold and one bronze haul. Uganda’s other good performances were in chess, basketball, badminton, table tennis and swimming, where Uganda’s basketball 3*3 team beat France (9-3) and India (9-6) respectively. Facilitating the junior team to these championships indicates Government’s strategic move to identify, develop and mentor the young talents.
Government launched the Education Sustainable Development (ESD) Framework in October, 2022. The framework will contribute to the acquisation of knowledge and skills necessary for sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, among others. The framework will also facilitate aligning education with local contexts as envisioned by target 4.7 of SDG 4 (Quality Education).
Uganda received a leadership award at the Mexico-Cancun Symposium in September 2022 for the implementation of the Spotlight Initiative. The initiative seeks to eliminate sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls in Uganda.Uganda through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development excelled with its interventions on ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), domestic violence, and strengthening systems among others.
Uganda recorded a significant drop in mother to child HIV infections from 30% over two decades ago to 2.8%. The decline was attributed to the increase in access to HIV Prevention and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services including; antenatal care attendance, HIV testing and nevirapine prophylaxis. Eliminating HIV mother-to-child transmission will enable the country to attain an AIDS-free generation.
In October 2022, Government officially started operationalisation of the Wildlife Fund to compensate victims of human-wildlife conflict. Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) put aside 2 percent of its revenue collections amounting to 900m, which constitutes part of the fund to support the compensation scheme.
In an effort to give force to the compensation scheme, the Uganda Wildlife (Compensation Scheme) regulations 2022 No. 65 were gazetted on 5th of August 2022 and that the Uganda Wildlife (Revenue Sharing) Regulations, 2022 No. 65 were equally gazetted on the same day.
With a combined area of 211,100 ha, three national parks; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP), Rwenzori Mountains National Park (RMNP), and Kibale National Park (KNP) were certified under Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for management by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). This exercise started in 2018 when FSC launched the National Forest Stewardship Standard of the Republic of Uganda.