• by IPS Correspondents (washington dc)
• Friday, July 13, 2012
• Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON DC, Jul 13 (IPS) - The Uganda Scouts Association, described as a youth development organization, is spearheading a nation-wide campaign to reach young people in schools and out of school through their programmes targeting  the health of students and their  households, according to Cleopatra John Byarugaba,director of the U Report in Uganda.

She spoke at  a UN Children’s agency’s ( UNICEF) Child Survival Conference in Washington DC recently,  which   provided the international community with a platform on how to reduce child deaths worldwide.  The meeting was jointly sponsored by UNICEF  and the governments of Ethiopia, India and United States.

“We have two projects that have offered many advantages such as, the Scouting for Solutions project. Scouts have been able to reach out to people in their local community and create behavioral changes with information on HIV and AIDS, sex education in local communities, prevention of stigma and support and care for the victims”.

Another project is food for life,  she said, which allows Scouts to produce vegetables to supplement their diet. It also supports the community because the vegetables are shared as well as encourages sustainability through selling some of the vegetables to better their lives.

Addressing delegates at the conference, Byarugaba said Uganda has a high percentage of young mothers,  and there is ,therefore, an increasing need to engage them in addressing child survival.

“I believe that the Millennium Development target of 2015 is realistic and if all stakeholders, including youth, play their part, all children will live to see their fifth birthday and preventable diseases will be eliminated.

She also said that during the national camp in early August, which gathers around 500 scouts, she will have a child survival tent where all scouts will share their ideas on how to prevent preventable deaths in children and women.

In an interview with IPS, Byarugaba said “through our network, information has been passed to various households. And many have since then been able to make informed decisions based on the information provided, around the following areas: immunization, citizenship and patriotism, post-natal care, and reproductive health.”

Asked about the use of technology in her campaign, she said the  U-report’s mission is to inspire action in Ugandan communities by providing local citizens with updates via radio, newspaper, text messages and polls on issues plaguing Uganda.

Also, young people are able to hold government accountable for service delivered by just sending a message and also making their members of parliament discuss  issues they share in U-report. (Mtrac which is like U-report where reports on availability of medicine is reported and and responsible government entities like ministry of health are held accountable.)

U-report is a technology which can be used as a tool for research because all the information received and shared is up to date and exact.

Asked what still needs to be changed in her community, Byarugaba said many people still do not believe that hand washing reduces the risk of spreading diseases and contamination hence reducing medical costs.

“We therefore find it important to educate more and more people in terms of hand washing.  On the other hand, we have trained a few people up country about proper sanitation. However, they need a lot of support in digging and construction of latrines,” she added.

© Inter Press Service (2012) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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