President Yoweri Musevenis` Speech at the World

Population Day, 2017 Busia District 11th July,

2017

Honourable Ministers;

Members of Parliament;

The Heads of Diplomatic Missions;

The Chairman of the Board of National Population Council (NPC);

District, Religious and Cultural Leaders of Busia and neighouring

Districts;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Abe Busia Muliyo Mutye Mwesi?

First, I would like to thank the people of Busia and the District
leaders for hosting this years World Population Day.

I would also like to thank you all for maintaining peace, unity and
tranquility and also for your strong support to the NRM
Government. Mwebale muno
On the occasion of the World Population Day 2017, I would like
to address the nation and all Ugandans on the following issues
When our Government came to power, Ugandas population was
relatively small. Why was it small? Because our people were dying
in large numbers. For example in 1991, infant mortality
rate (children dying before their first birthday) was 122 per
1,000 births. As we speak today, infant mortality has been
considerably reduced by threefold and stands at 43 per 1,000.
Although no child should die, nonetheless this is good progress.
How did we achieve this?
We achieved this by prioritizing prevention in the health sector,
e.g immunization and the use of bed-nets for prevention of
Malaria. As a result of these low cost-high impact programmes,
we stopped our children from dying unnecessarily from
preventable diseases like Polio, Measles, Tuberculosis (TB),
Whooping Cough, etc.
Regarding the HIV / AIDS epidemic, you will recall that the
prevalence of the epidemic had risen up to 30% in some parts of
the country. I decided that we, as Government, should make an
alarm (Enduulu). The HIV/AIDS prevalence sharply dropped to
6%. We used ABC strategy (of Abstinence, Be faithful to your
Partner and use of Condoms). Although recently there has been
complacency, our Government is re-kindling our efforts. We are
going to put more people on ARVs so that they dont infect
others. We are committed to an AIDS-free Uganda by the year
2030 through the Presidential Fast-tracking Initiative which I
launched in Kampala last month.

Government has also invested heavily in the construction of health

centres. By 1986, the health sector was in a state of near collapse
with dilapidated and very poorly equipped health facilities.

Our Government has increased health facilities to a total of 1,708

and this has brought health services nearer to the people. This,
combined with an increase in numbers of health workers, has
contributed to the reduction in maternal mortality (deaths of
mothers during pregnancy or child birth) from 435 deaths per
100,000 live births in 2010/11 to 368 deaths per 100,000 live
births in 2015/16.

As a result of these interventions, Ugandans are now healthier and

live longer than ever before. The last Census (2014 Census)
indicated improvement of life expectancy. That Census indicated
that life expectancy in Uganda increased from 43 years in 1991 to
63 years in 2014.
A combination of reduced mortality and increased life expectancy
has led to a rapid increase in our population. Ugandas population
has grown from 16.7 million people in 1990 to 34.6 million in 2014
and is expected to reach 40 million by next year. This is Ugandas
most important asset. Therefore, our population has grown
because of good policies.

As I have said before, it is important that I remind Ugandans on a

day like this that the riches of any nation are not in the soil or in
the ground, but in its people. In fact if you look closely into
history, you will find that a number of rich countries dont have
 natural resources, but they depend on their own people (human
capital) especially if they are educated, skilled, innovative and have
entrepreneurial skills. A good example is Japan, but there are also
others like South Korea and Singapore.
With good programmes like quality education, vocational and skills
training, good health care and job creation, this growing
population and the youth are the engine of economic growth for
Uganda.

Uganda will harness the Demographic Dividend. To solve the job

issue of Ugandas youth, our Government will continue to focus in
four sectors, namely:

1. Agriculture;
2. Industries;
3. Services and;
4. ICT
Regarding the issues in Busia, let me start with the challenge of
66% of households being in subsistence economy (the national
average being 68.9%). This means that in Busia, for every 100
people, 66 are in subsistence farming. Whereas we brought down
poverty in Uganda from 56% in 1991 to 19.7% currently,
depending on subsistence undermines our efforts. Our next step
is to bring as many people as possible out of subsistence economy
through organized commercial farming, irrigation, value addition,
etc.

Fellow Ugandans, there is also this problem of high teenage

pregnancy which stands at 25% at national level and 27% in Busia
district. This means that one (1) out of every four (4) of teenage
girls has had a baby before they reach 19 years old. This is not
acceptable because it leads to high maternal mortality, cancer and
fistula (huge tears of the birth canal because the body is not ready
for childbirth). Is this high teenage pregnancy due to bad
parenting, poverty or moral degeneration? I ask all Ugandans to
join me in ending this shameful creeping problem in our country.

Another important challenge I would like to talk about today is the

issue of household hygiene. For us in NRM, prevention is the
priority. We know that in Uganda, only 27% of the people wash
their hands with water and soap after visiting the toilet. This has
serious public health implications for the control of infectious
diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery and other diarrheal
diseases. Seventy five per cent (75%) of disease burden in Uganda
is preventable and personal hygiene is key in this effort. Surely, we
dont need a budget from the Ministry of Finance to sort out this!
Lastly, I wish to inform you that the NRM Government will
continue to give priority to issues of our youth by empowering
them so that they improve their welfare as well as contributing
positively towards Ugandas development.

I wish all Ugandans a happy World Population Day. A big thank

you to the people of Busia.
Abe Busia Mwesi. Mwebalemuno ohwicha nohutekeressa.

Thank you.