UNICEF and World Health Organisation representatives in Uganda have asked the government and rebel groups to observe an eight-day ceasefire, beginning Tuesday, to allow more than 50,000 vaccinators to immunize children against measles. "No cause and no conflict can be greater or more urgent than the cause of protecting all the children of Uganda from this deadly disease," the representatives said in a statement.

Three broad facts about education have emerged from recent research. Firstly, almost universally education is found to lift people out of poverty. Secondly, when a comparison is made between investing in education and other forms of investment, the returns from investing in education are on average lower. Thirdly, the returns to education - in the sense of the increment in income that accrues to each year of education - are much higher for those with higher levels of education. What factors influence these trends?

The conflict in northern Uganda, one of many forgotten wars around the globe, took a dramatic turn for the worse in June 2002 when a government offensive sparked fierce rebel retaliation. The LRA has abducted at least 8,000 children in the past year alone; and an estimated 25,000 have been taken since the beginning of rebel activity in the late 1980s.

The Ugandan government must immediately investigate the reported recent execution of four detainees by state security agents, Human Rights Watch says. The authorities should also reveal the whereabouts of 10 others arbitrarily detained, and must charge or release them. The four men reportedly executed were among 14 detained in August by the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATF), a joint unit drawn from several state security agencies. The men were apparently executed because they were accused of having links to a rebel group.

Human Rights Watch has launched a campaign to seek the release of abducted children in northern Uganda. Visit the web site provided to find out more information.

The plight of children abducted by rebels in northern Uganda is not getting enough international attention, the UN has warned. According to the Office of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG-CACC), more prominence should be given to the tragedy which has been unfolding for nearly two decades. Over 25,000 children are believed to have been abducted in the course of the 17-year civil war between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the government.

The number of Ugandans who have been displaced by the country's 17-year long civil war in the north has now exceeded one million, according to latest figures from the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

Uganda registers a total of 80, 000 HIV positive pregnant women each year. Ugandan Minister of Health Jim Muhwezi was quoted as saying that the number represents 6.5 percent of the estimated 1.2 million women who get pregnant in the country annually.

The launch of a nationwide, wireless network to improve Uganda’s ability to treat patients and combat the spread of disease has been announced. The network is built around the country’s well-established cell phone network, inexpensive handheld computers, and innovative wireless servers called "Jacks." The technology allows health care workers to access and share critical information in remote facilities without fixed telephone lines or regular access to electricity.

Over 30 leaders from non-governmental organisations and local authorities from the Horn, East and Southern Africa convened in Kampala, Uganda in September 2003 for the first Regional Dialogue, Preventing Gender-based Violence: Sharing Experiences, Breaking New Ground, organised by Raising Voices and UN-HABITAT's Safer Cities Programme. The Kampala Declaration calls on civil society, local authorities, UN agencies, governments and funding agencies to increase attention, investment and action on preventing gender-based violence in Africa. Read the Kampala Declaration at www.raisingvoices.org/declaration.shtml and join us in preventing gender-based violence by adding your name in support.

The Cabinet has presented its proposals to the Constitutional Review Commission, which among others, seek to give the President more powers, open up political space and create regional governments. The proposals seek to amend 88 articles of the Constitution, five schedules, one national objective and create 14 new articles.

The deteriorating health situation in areas occupied by eastern Uganda's internally displaced people (IDPs) has reached crisis proportions, with malaria, measles, diarrhoea and pneumonia killing a number of people every day, according to camp residents and local health officials. Most of those dying from preventable diseases are young children. Parents in the camps are burying their young on a daily basis as attacks of malaria rage through the Teso region's densely packed settlements.

Thirty Ugandan women met in Limuru, 35 kilometres from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, to mark the International Day of Peace on September 21, and chart out ways of bringing peace to war ravaged regions of their country. The women, the majority of them from the war-torn northern Uganda, also attended a four-day peace and reconciliation conference between September 16-19 in Limuru organised by People for Peace in Africa, a pressure group, and Uganda Gender Resource Centre.

Dorcus Apecu is a primary seven schoolgirl who keeps her fingers crossed. She is praying that her mother does not take her out of school and get her married due to lack of school fees. At sixteen, Dorcus is already 'over age' in a society where girls are married off early in order to get bride price and reduce family burdens. Dorcus' two sisters are already married because their mother could not afford to look after them after their father died, leaving behind nine children and a jobless wife.

Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI), is a women's organisation established to facilitate follow-up of the implementation of the Global and African Platforms for Action for the advancement of women within the Eastern African Sub-region. EASSI is looking to fill the vacant position of executive director. It focuses on the enhancement of gender equity and social justice through networking, research, capacity building and advocacy for women.

Eighteen-year-old Rehema Tumwebaze assists her mother at a food kiosk in Katanga, a Kampala slum. They use about 15 Jerrycans of water per day for the family business. At Shs 50 per 20-litre Jerrycan, their water bill is Shs 750 per day. Government plans to invite private players into the provision of water services, but will Ugandans get cheaper and better access?

A group of six children and youth who were abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda have returned from Sudan, UNICEF Uganda has announced. The ages of the members of the group range from 12 to 22 years. All were abducted from Uganda as children, between 1997 and 2002. After arrival at Entebbe, the group was taken to reception centres in Gulu where they will be provided with psycho-social counselling by the Gulu Support for Children Organisation (GUSCO) and World Vision.

Thousands of children fleeing Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) attacks in northern Uganda’s troubled Pader district are now stranded in neighbouring Karamoja, unable to rejoin their families, according to government officials.

Scientists have ascertained that a local herb that grows in most parts of Uganda is effective in curing malaria, including strains that are resistant to conventional drugs. Dr. Goretti Nambatya, the National Chemotherapeutics Laboratory (NCTL) director said they identified the herb through countrywide surveys in which they collected a variety of herbal concoctions. Scientists are preparing for large-scale tests, based on World Health Organisation guidelines.

A leading French company is among those the Government has nominated to be contacted over the possibility of constructing the stalled Bujagali hydro-electric power project in Jinja. Sources said the French-owned Electricite De France (EDF), Union Fonesa International of Spain, South Africa's Eskom Enterprises Pty and the UK-based CDC Capital Partners were among those short-listed for the delayed 250-megawatt Bujagali dam.