A victory on the path to maternal healthcare in Uganda →

Irene Nanteza went into labor late on the morning of May 5, 2011. It was her fourth pregnancy, so she and her husband, David Mugerwa, were prepared. By 1:30 p.m. she was checked into the maternity ward at nearby Nakaseke Hospital, one of the best medical facilities in central Uganda. And when the nurse on duty looked in on Nanteza just before her shift ended at 3:30 p.m., she noted that, “everything looked normal.”

Six hours later, her uterus ruptured, Nanteza and her unborn baby were both dead.

Read more.

---

Violence in Burundi triggers refugee crisis →

Political turmoil in Burundi has caused tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, many to refugee camps in neighboring countries. Read more.

---

For Burundi refugees, a shift to long-term temporary status →

As political violence has increased following Burundi’s presidential vote late last month, at least a thousand people continue to flee the country each week — necessitating the continuation of emergency response that has gone on for months. With few of the refugees prepared to return imminently, aid agencies are attempting to implement long-term assistance strategies for the displaced Burundians. And they are doing it all amid a significant funding shortfall. Read more.

---

McLeod Ernest Chitiyo →

Leading pathologist in Zimbabwe. He was born in Old Umtali Mission, Zimbabwe, on Nov 30, 1932, and died in Harare, Zimbabwe, on March 2, 2015, aged 82 years. Read more.

---

South Sudanese refugees in Uganda receive generous welcome →

When fighting broke out in December 2013 in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, it spread rapidly toward the country’s northeast – directly towards John Aleu’s home. He wanted no part of the conflict and hoped the remoteness of his village in northern Jonglei state would insulate him.

But in September last year, a group of fighters came to steal his cattle. As he tried to spur the animals to flee, he was shot in the foot. It took his neighbors three days to carry him to the nearest hospital. His foot was saved, but he will never be able to walk without crutches again.

By April he was well enough to travel, so together with his family he journeyed across the border to Uganda. “If I’m going back, I can’t feed my family,” he said. “I’m in need of something that can promote my life and my family’s life.”

Read more.

---

Can the world's newest nation survive its complex humanitarian crisis? →

There is little to celebrate as South Sudan marks its fourth independence anniversary today. Even if peace arrives soon, humanitarian agencies warn, it would take the country decades to recover from the effects of the ongoing violence. Read more.

---

Students flee U.S. embassy camp in Burundi, claiming police harassment →

University students in troubled Burundi have claimed they are being targeted for harassment, including death threats, by security forces and the police – especially the hundreds who took refuge near the American embassy after the government closed the University of Burundi. Read more.

---

Burundi votes, and violence looms →

Residents are scrambling to leave Burundi as voting in parliamentary and local elections threatens to turn ugly fast. Read more.

---

Uganda's Museveni succeeds where others fail in eluding term limits →

Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza and other presidents trying to subvert term limits could all take a lesson from their neighbor, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Having disposed of term limits a decade ago, Museveni is set to run for his fifth term next year, in a campaign that seems as much a coronation as a contest. Read more.

---

Uganda's NGO law: Most repressive in East Africa? →

Uganda is poised to pass a law granting a government-appointed board nearly incontestable power to reject or dissolve nongovernmental and community-based organizations. Read more.

---

South Sudan food crisis deepens amid tanking economy →

Through 17 months of conflict, tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan and two million more displaced. Schools, health centers and markets have been looted and destroyed. It took a $1.8 billion humanitarian response last year for the country to avoid a famine. Read more.

---

The swift unraveling of fragile peace in Burundi →

A failed coup and ongoing political conflict in Burundi have sparked a regional refugee crisis and stalled much-needed development projects in one of the world’s poorest countries. Read more.

---

Entrepreneurship mentors help graduates to create jobs →

As universities scramble to adapt curricula to economic realities, a new initiative has sprung up to teach recent graduates and current students the entrepreneurial skills they need to survive in Uganda. Read more.

---

A fight over Uganda's health workers →

The months-long tug of war between Ugandan officials and health activists over a government agreement to export health workers continues, despite a court’s recent refusal to block the move. Read more.

---

Uganda to expand successful Kampala scheme in battle against tuberculosis →

Dr. Kasauli Mahmoud Zinda felt he was failing his community each time a probable TB patient walked out of his clinic without being tested, in all likelihood to spread the disease. So when representatives from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease approached him in 2011 to join a new initiative that would equip his clinic, Pillars Medical Center, to test for and treat TB, “it looked like it was a dream,” he said.

Read more.

---