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A note about Sironko, Uganda






Noteworthy links
www.africanbaobab.org
www.ikat.org
www.unicef.org/mdg/gender.html
Sironko District is located in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is a rural area where most of the houses are made of grass-thatched roofs, with mud/wattle walls and rammed earth floor.

HIV/AIDS is among the top ten causes of mortality in the district, with an estimated number of 24,609
infected people. The impact of the epidemic is great on the individuals, families and community.
A large number of children have been orphaned. There are culturally rooted challenges in carrying
out interventions. These practices include widow inheritance, polygamy, wife sharing, traditional
marriage without blood tests, and parents avoiding talking to their children about sex and HIV/AIDS.
Voluntary counselling and testing is being encouraged, yet there is a poor response by men.

Sironko district has high prevalence of child abuse cases, perpetuated by a number of causes, namely
peer (boy/girl) relationships, rape, inability of parents/guardians to provide for their families, and a
general preference for boys at the expense of girls. This has consequently increased the number of
child pregnancies, child marriages, child mothers/parents, unwanted pregnancies, and street children.
These and other causes have resulted in a high level of school dropouts. The education sector, which
has inadequate physical facilities and poor staff welfare, is an environment hostile to girls.

The school dropout rate is especially high for girls and children with disabilities. Low cultural values attached to their education and poverty has perpetuated high illiteracy rates among women. Reports indicate that poor performance and increased dropouts prevail as a result of gender inequalities and discrimination at the community and individual levels. Such discrimination includes preference for educating boys over girls. Girls miss out on educational opportunities due to the dominant perception among the population that girls are a source wealth, along with the unbalanced domestic workload between boys and girls both at home and at primary schools.