What you need to know about Buikwe?

Buikwe COVID19 cover story

Location: Buikwe is a district found in the Central region of Uganda with an area size of about 1,209Sq² Km. Administratively Buikwe is composed of 8 sub-counties and 4 town councils with up to 470 villages. It is located approximately 14kms which is about 8.7 miles by road southeast of Lugazi the nearest and largest town.

Access: Buikwe can be accessed by road via Jinja road from Kampala the capital city of Uganda which is approximately 60kms (37Miles).

Source of Livelihood of the population: According to the recent census carried out by UBOS in 2014, its estimated population is 422,771 people with a male to female ratio of one to one (1:1).  The region has 2 rain seasons and 2 dry seasons with the mean annual rainfall of 11,000mm which makes it favorable for production of cash and food crops, horticulture and floriculture on a commercial basis. This explains why people within Buikwe are predominantly farmers who thrive on agriculture as a source of livelihood.

Geographically, Buikwe lies at the shores of Lake Victoria which has provided the population with an opportunity of embracing Fishing as an economic activity and another source of livelihood for the community. The region has over 52 landing sites with an estimation of 70,000 people being directly dependent on fishing. Kiyindi, Nkombwe, Ssenyi, and Kikondo are a few of the most popular landing sites within the region.

Challenges: Accessibility and transport, Sanitation, Hygiene, Health, poverty and Education are the major challenges facing most communities within Buikwe. Fishing communities are faced with water borne diseases, which have been aggravated by the rains. At 28.8%, HIV prevalence is three times higher than the national average in Buikwe.

In 2019, the socio-economic situation of communities within Buikwe was worsened by the outbreak of Covid-19. Due to the total lock down of the entire economy, every sector including education was paralyzed and as a result a new problem in Buikwe was birthed.  The problem of early teenage pregnancy hit the region very hard which caused a national concern. Today after covid-19 we are left with scars of this problem like teenage mothers many of whom have dropped out of school, HIV/AIDS, early marriages, to mention but a few.

In one of the most astounding incidence or scene witnessed and captured in the area was of a 14yr old teenage mother nursing her baby just next to her mother who was also nursing her baby about the same age with her grandchild the baby of her daughter. There were many disturbing scenes in Buikwe relating to teenage pregnancy that were recorded. The vice of early teenage sex which has resulted into teenage pregnancies needs to be addressed and these teenage mothers need to be helped or else more other social problems like early marriages, contraction of STDs like HIV/AIDs, abortion, Drug abuse and use of dangerous substances, street children, are being created.