Global healthcare leader, Merck, has recently partnered
with the Republic of Uganda to distribute free vaccines for cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is the most common type of cancer, affecting up to 3,500 women
in Uganda and is caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) which is transmitted
through sexual contact. For most people the virus clears up on its own, but for
some it can cause vaginal and vulvar cancers in women and anal cancer and
genital warts in men and women. Since there is no way to predict who will clear
or not clear the virus, the vaccine is a very efficient way to cut down
incidences of cervical cancer. It is estimated that approximately
500,000 women develop cervical cancer annually around the world, with about 85
percent of cases occurring in developing countries. Cervical cancer is
considered the third most common cancer found in women.
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Creating opportunities for women informal cross border traders in the EAC
Despite the integration of the East African countries and
the coming into force of the Customs Union and Common Market Protocols, women
continue to engage in informal cross border trade by largely using ungazetted
border crossing routes.
There is need
therefore to identify how the provisions in the Customs Union and Common Market
Protocols can be exploited in order to increase women’s trade volume, reduce transaction
costs and eliminate the non-tariff barriers which remain obstacles to trade.
EASSI with financial support from Trade Mark East Africa
(TMEA) is implementing the Empowering Women Informal Cross Border Traders
Project in the East Africa Common Market. EASSI will be implementing the
project in partnership with its focal points in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda
and Burundi.
On Friday 3rd August 2012, the implementing partner
organisations gathered at the EASSI secretariat in Kampala, Uganda to reflect
more about the project and the impact of the Customs Union and Common Market
Protocols on women’s effective participation in cross border trade within the
EAC region.
The objective of the inception meeting was also to enable
implementing partners of the project to have a common understanding of the
project, implementation mechanisms and the role each partner. Participants
during the workshop reflected on the status of the implementation of Customs
and Common Market protocols and impact on women’s effective participation in
cross border trade with in the EAC region.
“Women have not fully benefited from the Customs Union
and the Common Market Protocol largely because they lack knowledge of their
rights and entitlements; they lack business information and have limited
knowledge on trade procedures and protocols” noted Eric Tumesigye, EASSI's Project Coordinator speaking at the
meeting.
“We hope by the end of this project, women will have
access to more markets, access better networks and add value to their products
and may be cease to be informal women cross border traders” The Programs
Director EASSI, Christine Nankubuge noted.
The implementing partners pledged to support the project
and ensure more women informal traders benefit from the project through;
increasing networking opportunities for the women; proper documentation;
increased sensitization; increased utilization of the media including community
radio stations and so on.
For details about this project go to http://eassi.org/projects/on-going-projects/269-gender-and-trade
Monday, 30 July 2012
NO ARMS TRADE TREATY - BUT NOT ALL IS LOST
After a month of intense negotiations, the Arms
Trade Treaty Diplomatic Conference ended without a treaty. The Chair,
Ambassador Moritan of Argentina, stated, “my apologies are very deep because I
was not up to the circumstances.” It is not the end, however. There will be
other opportunities, among them at the General Assembly.
Mexico made a statement on behalf of 90
states declaring: “We are determined to secure an Arms Trade Treaty as soon as
possible. One thatwould bring about a safer world for the sake of all
humanity.”
In terms of IANSA’s
advocacy linking gender and women's rights to the arms trade, we have made big
strides. Considering that diplomats involved in the ATT process did not think
gender had anything to do with this treaty when we began, thefact that
gender-based violence made it into the draft with such widespread support shows that IANSA Women’s voices have been
heard. The prominence and acknowledgement of GBV is an achievement in itself
and will serve as a good basis to continue
to make the links between gender and small arms control. We can hold
governments accountable and begin to create a new norm, that the risk of
gender-based violence must be considered before approving international arms
transfers.
Direct Link to Full 4-Page Policy Paper: http://www.iansa-women.org/sites/default/files/Joint_policy_paper_gender_att_final_june2012.pdf
Note
The IANSA Women's
Network is the only international network focused on the connections between
gender, women’s rights, small arms and armed violence.
*EASSI is a member of the IANSA Women’s Network
Monday, 25 June 2012
Gender and Trade: EASSI Trains Women Informal Cross Border Traders in Uganda
A recent
research done by EASSI revealed that cross-border trade at informal sector
level is a strong component of intra-regional trade and an important aspect in
the East African Community integration process. Women in the EAC region have been
at the forefront of cross border trade both as a source of income and
employment, yet their experiences have not been adequately documented to
advocate for improved trade conditions. Women constitute the largest
proportion in this sector, engaged in small scale business transactions in a
range of products. According to a UNECA study, trade provides 60% of
non-agricultural self-employment in sub-Saharan Africa with informal traders
representing 70%-80%.
To enhance the capacity of
women informal cross border traders (ICBTs) and impart them with business
skills and knowledge in order to contribute to improved business
conditions, EASSI is currently conducting a training of some of these women in
Uganda. This is one of the activities under her Gender and Trade Project
in the EAC. The training will take place for two days and given the entire
package, it is expected to increase their knowledge in gender and trade to
reduce transaction costs and eliminate the non-tariff barriers in order to
increase their trade volumes.
The training in session
The training comes after an
assessment that was done by EASSI at the EAC border points to identify the
needs of these Informal Cross Border Traders. Some of the identified training
needs are already being addressed in the ongoing training by the facilitators.
The Uganda training is the first of similar national level trainings that will
take place in the rest of the partner states of the EAC. Our partners in the
Gender and Trade Project (Uganda Export Promotion Board and Uganda National
Chamber of Commerce and Industry) are also on board to facilitate sessions
during the training.
The
training will, among others, delve into the Customs Union & Common Market
Protocols that will look at opportunities for women traders and existing
challenges for women traders. Participants will also learn about Tax regimes in
the EAC region & harmonization of National Legislation on Trade Labor Law.
There will be in-depth discussions on Entrepreneurship / Business management;
Networking for Business growth; as well as Savings and Credit Schemes – Loans
Management and Access to Credit. The women will get to elect leadership for an
Association for the Uganda Chapter to wind up the training.
Participants of the training
The Gender and Trade Project recognizes that despite
the integration of the East African countries and the coming into force of the
customs union and common market protocols, women continue to engage in informal
cross border trade by using illegal border crossing routes and middlemen who
exploit them and take advantage of their ignorance.
Overall,
the project seeks to support women cross border traders in the informal
economy to increase their trade volume, reduce transaction costs and eliminate
the non-tariff barriers which remain obstacles to trade including sexual and
other forms of harassment - by arming them with information and supporting
their collective organization. The expected outcomes of the training
include:
- Enhanced coordination of support efforts to women in trade at policy level;
- Improved knowledge of trade issues among the different women traders in the EAC partner states; and
- A regional small scale trade association for women traders established
The
training falls under the women’s rights and gender equality programme of EASSI
and it is tagged to the EAC Campaign for a Gender and Development Protocol. As
East Africa moves towards integration, women should not be left behind
especially in the area of trade/economic empowerment.
p.s. – more about our gender and trade work at http://www.eassi.org/publications/cat_view/119-eassi-gender-and-trade-project
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Local government officials want 40% of health budget
Local government leaders, under their
umbrella organisation Uganda Local Government Association (ULGA), have asked
the Ministry of Health to allocate them at least 40 per cent of the budget,
saying they do more work than the central government which takes the biggest
chunk. This follows the proposal from the 2012/13 national budget frame work
paper which suggests 17 per cent, way below the 35 per cent allocated to the
health sector under the local government in the last financial year. The ULGA
vice president, Ms Josephine Kasya, during the ULGA negotiation and advocacy
meeting held in Kampala yesterday, said there was need to harmonise the funds
given to the two sectors. The president of the same organisation, Mr Peter
Odok, expressed disappointment over the level of “selfishness” at the central
government. “If we cannot get 50 per cent, let the ministry give us 40 per cent
and we will use it to improve service delivery rather than giving 83 per cent
of the funds to people who sit in offices and draw plans to implement yet they
don’t want to give the money for implementation,” Mr Odok said. The local government
officials accused the central government of a deliberate move to under look
them, an allegation which the central government representative from the
Ministry of Health, Dr Isac Ezati, said would be addressed by the relevant
authorities.
Basic maternal care could ease Uganda's fistula problem
Ugandan women face a higher risk of fistula due to
a lack of skilled birth attendants in the country. The Commissioner Clinical
for Clinical Services Dr Jacinto Amanduaau old Daily Monitor that 15 per cent of
labours in Uganda require the aid of a professional midwife, but most women
have to do without such essential medical care. Fistula is usually caused when
a woman is in labour for too long or the delivery is obstructed. The condition
can cause an abnormal opening of the birth canal which often leaves the woman
with a recurring problem with leaking urine and feacal matter. Dr Amandau was
speaking at the launch of the country's new fistula care programme.
Authorities in Uganda recognise there is a fistula problem and they want to ascertain
the scale of it and develop new ways to address the issue. The latest official
figures are from 2006 and show that 2.64 per cent (200,000) of Ugandan women
have suffered from symptoms of fistula.
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