Message from the Director

Welcome to the Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC).
Assoc Prof Anne Katahoire

Ongoing Research

Understanding the perspectives of male partners of adolescent girls and young women, and effectiveness of strategies to link them to HIV services: Implementation Science research for the DREAMS Initiative in Uganda
Summary of the Project This research is part of a portfolio of implementation science (IS) studies for the DREAMS Initiative, a program to significantly reduce new HIV infections among AGYW in high-...
Parenting for Respectability Programme (PfR): ‘Proof of Concept’, Before-and-After Outcome Evaluation in Uganda, 2016-2018.
Project Leader: Dr Siu Godfrey (gsiu@chdc.mak.ac.ug) Project background Evidence of effective, culturally relevant parenting programmes from low and middle income is extremely limited. Of the...
Alternative Care Consortium on Systems Strengthening (ACCoSS)
Institutional care for vulnerable children may be inevitable in certain circumstances and can result in some positive benefits. However, institutional care is increasingly being scrutinized in many...
The relationship between HPV vaccination and HIV infection among young girls in Oyam district, Uganda: A retrospective-prospective double cohort study
The purpose of the study is to find out whether vaccination against some types of the germs that causes cancer of the mouth of the womb (cervical cancer) and/or a contagious wart of the private parts...
The relationship between HPV vaccination and HIV infection among young girls in Oyam district, Uganda: A retrospective-prospective double cohort study
The purpose of the study is to find out whether vaccination against some types of the germs that causes cancer of the mouth of the womb (cervical cancer) and/or a contagious wart of the private parts...
Understanding the perspectives of male partners of adolescent girls and young women, and effectiveness of strategies to link them to HIV services: Implementation Science research for the DREAMS Initiative in Uganda
The Population Council in collaboration with Child Health and Development (CHDC) Makerere University will conduct research in Uganda to support uptake of key HIV services and prevention behaviors by...
Link Up Project
The Link Up consortium is a global HIV and sexual reproductive health (HIV/SRH) integration project carried out in five countries: Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Uganda led by the...
Gender attitudes and sexual reproductive health: a household survey of young Ugandans.
This study examines equitable and inequitable gender attitudes and their consequences on behavioural outcomes – including intimate partner violence (IPV), and SRH knowledge, attitudes and practices...
Parenting For Good Behavior and Respectability: Developing and Piloting an intervention to reduce sexual and Gender based violence in Uganda.
This is a 21 session community-based parenting programme jointly implemented by the Child Health and Development Centre, Makerere University, and The Medical Research Council/UVRI, for the early...
Utilizing the WAYO-NERO (Aunt-Uncle) Strategy as a Vehicle for Improving Access to Mental Health Services in Post Conflict Northern Uganda - PI Herbert Muyinda
Funded by Grand Challenges Canada the research started in September 2012. This is a 3 year intervention research project being implemented in the Districts of Gulu, Nwoya and Amuru. It aims to;...
Community and District Empowerment for Scaling-Up (codes) Project
CHDC in collaboration with MUSPH and Karolinska Institute is conducting case studies and synthesized lessons learnt from the CODES intervention. CODES is funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation...
Qualitative Research on Gender-Related Factors related to Women's participation in the option B+ program
This research is a collaboration between ICF/MACRO and CHDC. Uganda’s Option B+ Program initiates all pregnant and breastfeeding women on daily antiretroviral therapy (ART) for life, regardless of...
Disability and Technology in Uganda from Local and Global Perspectives
    The project is an applied interdisciplinary research project on the enhancement of competences of people with disabilities in the fields of transport, communication and rehabilitation.  ...

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Key Statistics

Child survival in Uganda has improved but under nutrition persists; stunting is at 33%,
Reference: UNICEF, 2015
Children’s right to protection continues to be a critical challenge given that: 8% of children are critically vulnerable and 43% are moderately vulnerable
Reference: MoGLSD, 2011 and UBOS, 2014a
Only 60% of children in Uganda are registered within a year of birth.
Reference: UNICEF Uganda, 2015
Uganda ranks among the top 10 countries in the world for high maternal, newborn and child mortality rates.
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
HIV and AIDS is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in Uganda, accounting for 300 deaths a day.
Reference: UNAIDS, 2014
Malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and infections like HIV account for 70% of under-five deaths in Uganda
Reference: MoH, 2013b
The percentage of children deprived of access to safe water decreased from 39% to 30% between 2010 and 2013
Reference: MoGLSD et al., 2014
Approximately half of pregnant women have access to good-quality antenatal care services and only 57% of babies are delivered in a health facility.
Reference: UBOS and ICF International, 2012
In 2011, only 52% of children aged 12–23 months were fully vaccinated and only 40% of children aged 12–23 months were immunised before their first birthday.
Reference: UBoS, 2012
The under-five mortality rate in Uganda has not declined fast enough to meet the country’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of 56 per 1,000 live births by the end of 2015...
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
Neonatal mortality rate in Uganda has remained relatively constant at 27 deaths per 1,000 live births
Reference: UBOS and ICF International, 2012
The proportion of children under five dying from malaria in Uganda increased from 28% in 2011/12 to 31% in 2012/13
Reference: MoH, 2013a
Under nutrition is responsible for 40% of under-five deaths
Reference: Shively and Hao, 2012
HIV incidence among children in Uganda, declined from 27,660 in 2011, to 9,629 in 2013
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
The number of AIDS-related deaths in children aged 0–4 years in Uganda decreased by more than 50% from 100,000 between 2000 and 2012, while deaths in adolescents increased from...
Reference: UNICEF, 2013
At least 30% of the rural population does not have access to a latrine and more than 70% of households have no soap and water for children to wash their hands, putting them at...
Reference: MoGLSD et al., 2014
Less than half of all districts will meet the national target for access to safe and functioning sanitation facilities.(77% by 2015)
Reference: MWE, 2014
Only 3 out of 10 children assessed nationwide were able to read and understand a Primary 2 level text
Reference: Uwezo Uganda, 2012
Net enrolment ratio (NER) in primary schools was 93.7% in 2014, for both girls and boys, but secondary school enrolment rates are much lower.
Reference: 24.1% NER in 2014) (MoESTS, 2014a
There are 17.1 million children below 18 years (over 56% of the population); 11.3% of these are orphans, 8% of children are critically vulnerable, while 43% are moderately...
Reference: MoGLSD, 2011 and UBOS, 2014a
As of 2014, only 60% of children aged 0–4 years have birth registration papers
Reference: UNICEF, Uganda, 2015
Nearly half (49%) of women aged 20–49 years were married before the age of 18 years and 15% by the age of 15 years
Reference: UBOS and ICF International, 2012
About 55% (3.7 million) of Uganda’s under-five children and 38% of 6–17-year-olds are deprived in at least two poverty dimensions.
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
Children aged 0–4 years whose mother has no education are five times more likely to live in extreme poverty than those whose household head has secondary education.
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
Child poverty rates for 0–4-year-olds are highest in West Nile and Karamoja, where 68% are in poverty. For children aged 6–18 years in Karamoja, the percentage of those living in...
Reference: MoGLSD et al., 2014
The most common deprivations for under-fives are in the areas of nutrition (38%), health (34%) and access to improved water source (30%).
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
90% of children with disabilities do not access or enjoy their rights to survival, development, protection and participation
Reference: USDC and NCC, 2011
Uganda is ranked 73rd out of 86 in the 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index and 73rd out of 102 in the 2009 Social Institutions and Gender Index.
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
Approximately 35% of girls drop out of school because of early marriage and 23% do so because of pregnancy (UBOS and ICF International, 2012).
Reference: UBOS and ICF International, 2012
Over 15% of ever-married women aged 20–49 are married by the age of 15 and nearly half (49%) by the age of 18.
Reference: UBOS and ICF International, 2012
Teenage pregnancy rates are high (24% at the national level) with regional variations such that 34% of teenage girls from the poorest households and 24% of rural girls become...
Reference: UBOS and ICF International, 2012
Almost 1 million neonatal deaths occur on the day of birth, and close to 2 million die in the first week of life.
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
1 in every 12 Children in sub-Saharan Africa dies before his/her 5th birthday
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015
16000 Children die every day
Reference: UNICEF, Levels and trends in Child Mortality, Report 2015

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P.O. Box 7072, Kampala – Uganda
Tel: +256 414 348501

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The National Forum on the State of the Ugandan Child Kampala – More than 55 percent (3.7 million) of Uganda’s under-five children live in poverty and...