About Uganda

The Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country situated in East Africa and bordered by six countries as well as a substantial area of Lake Victoria. It has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils and largely untapped reserves of both crude oil and natural gas. Agriculture accounts for most of Uganda's economy.

Turbulent times followed Uganda's independence from Britain in 1962. After a brief period of peace and relative prosperity; the administration of Idi Amin was especially traumatic. The current government of Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, has overseen relative peace and stability in most of the country -- although northern Uganda has seen a protracted conflict between rebels and government.

Uganda has been hit particularly hard by HIV and AIDS, discovered on the shores of Lake Victoria during the early 1980s as it spread rapidly among the urban population. However, thanks to an aggressive multi-sectoral country-wide response, HIV infection rates as high as 30 percent are now significantly lower, around 5 percent.The country is now seen as a model for responding to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

Despite this progress, HIV and AIDS has left more than one million children orphaned to AIDS and an estimated one million lives lost.

About 80% of Uganda's population works in agriculture and subsistence farming, which are vulnerable to frequent and prolonged droughts.