UBOS trashes reports of bad blood with US government

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) trashed media reports claiming bad blood between the country’s statistics body and United States Embassy in Kampala over Uganda Demographic Health Survey funding.

Earlier media reports suggested that Uganda’s Demographic Health Survey would be jeopardized over the withdrawal of Shs 7 billion towards the UDHS exercise, a programme carried out after five years.

In a statement on Wednesday, UBOS said: “There is no bad relationship with the US Government on the issue of UDHS.”

“UBOS wishes to categorically state that the shs7 billion mentioned was meant for technical support mainly for employees of ICF Macro and printing services. The Government of Uganda provided support towards the programme by over 90% of the financial requirements. In addition, UNICEF and UNFPA maintained their financial contribution towards the undertaking of the UDHS.”

“The UDHS has been implemented in Uganda since 1988. UBOS has, over the years, therefore, developed sufficient technical capacity to fully implement UDHS up to dissemination. The technical support which was terminated, however, does not jeopardize the result of UDHS.”

UBOS in a statement dismissed reports of employing unaccepted protocols under the survey maintaining that UDHS results are collected using internationally acceptable standards.