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Japan News Release
11 June 2013
Japan Supports Health and Access to Safe Water in Eastern Uganda
The Embassy of Japan is to hand over two projects in Eastern Uganda of 184,395 USD: one for improvement of Bukonte Health Centre in Namutumba District (112,278 USD) today, and the other for improvement of Access to Safe Water in Manafwa District (72,117 USD) on 12 June 2013.
Counsellor Junji Yamazaki, the Deputy Head of Mission of Japan to Uganda, will officiate the commissioning of these projects.
Namutumba District in Eastern Uganda is situated in between two large towns, Mbale and Iganga, thus many young labor forces migrating to these two towns, leaving the district underdeveloped both commercially and in public infrastructure. Bukonte Health Centre is one of the few health centres that offer both maternity and in-patient medical services to around 19,300 people living in Nsinze Sub-County. The congestion at the health centre is immense increasing the risk of spreading infectious diseases and cross infection to the staff, demanding for an urgent improvement in medical environment. Through the project, we have completed the construction of the maternity ward, constructed a new general ward and staff housing, and procured necessary medical equipment in order to improve the medical service environment at the health centre.
Manafwa District lies in the eastern part of Uganda sharing the border with Kenya, with a population of 330,400 and has enjoyed a relative peace compared to its neighboring districts who suffered from internal conflicts. Yet, at the same time, the district was neglected from large scale aid programs, leaving the infrastructure largely underdeveloped. Currently, the poverty ratio is 56% and the rate of access to safe water is 54.9% in the district, while there are only 8 boreholes, two streams and three protected springs for the 30,200 people living in Butiru sub-county. Most people have to walk over 2km to fetch water, making the girls being late at school and even causing them to drop-out of school. The project has constructed a gravity flow water system and 11 tap stands in order to improve the access to safe water of over 4,600 people in the Sub-county.
The donation by Japan is part of the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP), a scheme administered by the Japanese Embassy to support community development projects to uplift the life of grassroots people. So far, a total of 172 projects have been funded under the scheme since its initiation in Uganda in 1992.
Japan, steadily promoting ownership of and partnership with African countries through Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process, is committed to boosting economic growth, achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and consolidating peace and good governance in Africa.
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The hand-over ceremony for Namutumba will take place at Bukonte Health Centre starting at 11:00 am, on 11th June while in Manafwa, the ceremony will take place at Butiru Sub-county starting at 11:00 am, on 12th June 2013.
Your media house is kindly invited to cover this function.
Please find details of the projects attached.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Kikome Yunia (Public Affairs Section) yunia.masembe@kp.mofa.go.jp
Ms. Yuki Tanaka (GGP Section) tanaka.yuki@kp.mofa.go.jp
Embassy of Japan in Uganda http://www.ug.emb-japan.go.jp/
P. O. Box 23553, Kampala
Tel: 0414-349 542/3/4, 0312-261 564/5/6
The Project for Improvement of Bukonte Health Centre in Namutumba District