The Islamic Republic of Iran will this year undertake the expansion of the tractor assembly plant at Old Port Bell Road in Kampala. The head of mission and acting Iranian Ambassador to Uganda His Excellency Ali A. Dabiran told The Independent that the assembly plant will be expanded to meet the requirement for the 950 centres in order to boost agriculture. Each of the 950 identified agricultural centres will get a tractor. Iran, which has a number of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Uganda, is fronting the mechanisation of agriculture.
The tractor assembly plant was commissioned by President Yoweri Museveni in June 2008 during the inauguration of the Organisation of Islamic Conference held at Munyonyo Resort Hotel. “Iran, which has since its war with Iraq that ended in the early 1980s modernised its agricultural sector, is all out to help Uganda, with whom they share a similar history of war in the same years, attain the same level of agricultural developmentâ€, said Dabirani. Iran, in addition to expanding the tractor assembly line is ready to cooperate with Uganda in the field of oil refining, renewable energy development, and valley dam construction to enhance power generation and irrigation farming. Also in the pipe line for this year is a milk powder processing plant to cost $ 15 million that will be constructed by Iranian investors.
US to spend $ 11m on TB fight in Uganda
Close to a century ago, America was locked in a battle against tuberculosis (TB), which killed thousands annually and was one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Today, even though a cure for drug-sensitive TB has existed for more than 50 years, TB remains a major cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises World Tuberculosis Day on March 24, to call attention to the disease and to mobilise action to combat it.Â
This year, the American people will support the Ministry of Health by investing nearly $11 million to deliver integrated services for both TB and HIV. US funding is implemented through 19 local partners covering 524 service outlets nationwide. TB continues to be a major health problem in Uganda, which is one of the 20 countries worldwide with a “high TB burden†ranking. The US support will include dissemination of national policy guidelines, training of health workers on intensive case finding and HIV/TB co-management, TB infection control, laboratory quality improvement, and strengthening of logistics and health management information systems at national and district levels. Steven Browning, the US Ambassador to Uganda, said, “The American people are making major investments to prevent and control TB in countries around the world where the burden of the disease is highest. Through our active engagement in the STOP TB Partnership, we are a key partner in intense global efforts to achieve the Partnership’s Global Plan targets to halve TB prevalence and deaths by 2015 relative to 1990 levelsâ€. During 2008, the United States supported ART funding to 12,770 HIV-positive TB patients and HIV counseling and testing to 17,783 TB patients.
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