Buvuma district, located on the Buvuma Islands in Lake Victoria, is grappling with severe health and education challenges, prompting urgent calls for increased budget allocations.
The Assistant District Health Officer Muhammad Mukwaaya highlighted the strain on the district’s 12 health facilities, including one Health Centre IV and eight Health Centre IIIs, due to an influx of visitors from neighboring districts like Buikwe, Mayuge, Jinja, and Mukono, as well as from Kenya and Tanzania for fishing and tourism.
High HIV/AIDS rates, driven by rampant prostitution, pose a significant challenge, with ongoing condom distribution efforts hampered by insufficient awareness campaigns and resources. Poor sanitation, with only 38% pit latrine coverage, contributes to widespread malaria and diarrhea, exacerbated by open defecation.
Health facilities are overwhelmed, lacking adequate drugs and staffing, and Mukwaaya emphasized the need to upgrade the Health Centre IV to a hospital to better serve the population.
Transport issues further complicate care, as most facilities lack boats for patient referrals, necessitating a boat ambulance to connect sub-county health centers to the Health Centre IV.
The district’s Shs 24 billion budget is deemed insufficient to address these issues.
Area MP Robert Migadde Ndugwa is lobbying for an expanded budget and a boat ambulance to improve the referral system, alongside a special developmental program for fishing communities, as existing programs like PDM and Emyooga are ill-suited due to costly fishing inputs.
In the education sector, District Education Officer Hussein Bugembe reported that only two government-aided seed schools, Lukale and Nailambi, serve the district, leading to high dropout rates due to long distances.
Overcrowding at Nailambi Seed School forces students to study in libraries and laboratories, while teacher absenteeism, driven by unfamiliarity with island conditions, disrupts learning. Bugembe urged the Education Service Commission to allow local teacher recruitment.
Schools also face sanitation challenges, with inadequate toilets posing health risks, and water scarcity forces students to fetch water from Lake Victoria, increasing absenteeism. Deputy Headteacher Sania Kasiri of Nailambi Seed School requested fences to prevent student escapes and address overcrowding and water access issues.
MP Migadde has taken proactive steps, using personal funds to build school blocks, procuring a speedboat for transporting expectant mothers, and advocating for a new Shs 4 billion seed school and expanded Buvuma College. He also pushes for higher salaries for civil servants in island areas to improve retention.
Uganda’s national health budget for FY 2025/26 stands at Shs 5.87 trillion, up from Shs 2.95 trillion, but declining donor funding for HIV, TB, and malaria programs increases pressure on domestic resources. Similar funding constraints in Kenya underscore regional challenges.
Migadde’s call for tailored programs for fishing communities highlights the need for targeted interventions to address Buvuma’s unique economic and geographic challenges.
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