![]() | Safe Blood in Developing Countries - The Lessons from Uganda (EC, 1995, 151 p.) |
Uganda straddles the Equator, and at about 236,000 square kilometres is about the same size as Great Britain or the state of Oregon, USA. Uganda is bordered by Kenya, Sudan, Zaire, Rwanda and Tanzania. Most of the country is high, at over 1,000 metres in altitude, and almost 25 per cent of the country's surface is water, thanks to several large lakes, the largest being Lake Victoria, Africa's biggest lake, source of the Nile, and shared between Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The country is mostly very fertile, with agriculture making up around 60 per cent of GDP and coffee, tea and tobacco being main exports. Some figures for Uganda are:
Population |
about 17 million |
Population growth rate |
about 2.8 per cent a year |
Fertility rate |
7.2 children/woman |
Maternal mortality rate |
550 per 100,000 births |
Life expectancy (1993) |
less than 50 years |
Malnutrition of under-5s |
45 per cent |
Population per doctor |
24,700 |
Population per nurse |
8,900 |
Gross National Product (GNP) per head |
about $170 |
Health share of GNP |
2 per cent |
Education share of GNP |
15 per cent |
Defence share of GNP |
26 per cent |
Top 5 causes of morbidity, 1992 | |
- Malaria |
19 per cent |
- Diarrhoea |
9 per cent |
- Measles |
7 per cent |
- Pneumonia |
6 per cent |
- Anaemia |
6 per
cent |