AFRICA/UGANDA - Despite the country's reconstruction after the war that was rampant for decades, there is lack in the assistance for victims who have suffered violence

Saturday, 3 September 2011

Lira (Agenzia Fides) – After five years of civil war that devastated the country there are still so many physical and psychological repercussions that many Ugandan women are facing. Tortured, forced to join the rebel group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), many are those who could not get any medical care for violence. In Ogur, Lira, in northern Uganda, there is a medical emergency run by 'Isis-Women's International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), a women's organization that deals with assistance for women living in war zones and post-conflict. The location is specific for women who suffered violence during the nearly two decades of war causing reproductive health complications. For most of them it is the first occasion where they are visited since the end of the war in 2006, and for others it is actually the first time they are assisted by a doctor. In northern Uganda, many women are in urgent need of a special program to provide them with health care assistance. The LRA rebels fought in the north and northeast of Uganda for 23 years. The war, which for decades confined almost 2 million people in refugee camps, was the most brutal since the independence from Britain in 1962. Thousands of people died in these conflicts that involved thousands of child soldiers and civilians forced to join rebel groups. Since 2006, people have returned to their homes, but is entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. A plan for recovery and development was promoted by the local government in 2009 but without considering the emergency needs of the population. The money was invested in the reconstruction of new blocks for health units and the reconstruction of those destroyed. According to local sources of Lira, the reconstruction works in the health sector have focused mainly on the construction of buildings, without immediate action regarding the medical emergency of the community. Most of the district health centers do not have medical personnel and there are only two gynecologists in the entire district. The LRA forces were forced to leave Uganda in 2006 and is currently engaged in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African and south western Sudan. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 03/09/2011)


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