UGANDA: Overview
Current Projects | Publications | Feature Stories | History
Extensive Experience
 Pathfinder International first began work in Uganda in the late 1950s, when it helped establish the Family Planning Association of Uganda and has worked almost continuously throughout Uganda ever since. Even during harsh political climates and throughout the ongoing 20-year civil war, Pathfinder operations have strived to ensure quality family planning assistance to those in need.
Today, many of Pathfinder’s programs focus on Northern Uganda, an area which has been plagued by instability, high HIV/AIDS prevalence, and marked lack of access to contraceptives—despite high demand. Overall the total fertility rate in Uganda is 6.7, one of the highest in the world. The high rate of unmet need for contraceptives (41 percent), combined with Uganda’s increasing rate of population growth at 3.4 percent, continues to hinder economic development, deepen poverty, and counter achievements that have been made in the social sector.
Meeting Diverse Reproductive Health Needs
Pathfinder supports 6 major reproductive health and family planning projects with a particular focus on:
Broad Reach
Through these programs Pathfinder/Uganda has reached some of the country’s most underserved populations including internally displaced refugees, women, and youth. In 2007, the Reproductive Health and Family Planning in a Conflict Setting project trained nearly 700 community-based distribution agents who reach out to thousands of people in Northern Uganda.
Current and Recent Projects in Uganda
Community-Based Reproductive Health Services: A major project focused on increasing family planning services in Northern Uganda.
Essential Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children: Supporting community-level HIV/AIDS activities among orphans and vulnerable children in the North Central Zone of Uganda.
Improving Community Access to Quality Family Planning Services: A collaborative project working to reduce Uganda’s high unmet need for family planning.
Reproductive Health and Family Planning in a Conflict Setting: A project in Northern Uganda that trains community-based health workers and facility-based providers in comprehensive family planning services.
Makerere University Health Outreach Project: Peer counseling and reproductive health services for university students.
Youth-Friendly Postabortion Care: A one-year project addressing unsafe abortion among adolescent women in Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Reducing Maternal Mortality: A recent project combating maternal mortality through the improvement of postabortion care, antenatal care, and community management of obstetric emergencies.
African Youth Alliance: A five-year partnership that served youth in Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, and Botswana.
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