Category: Africa

Source: APO – Report:

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Parliament is concerned about the escalating cost of the Busega–Mpigi Expressway with lawmakers questioning how the project’s contract price doubled from the initial Shs547.5 billion to over Shs1.2 trillion.

The Committee on Physical Infrastructure chaired by Hon.  Dan Kimosho raised these concerns on Tuesday, 24 March 2026 while meeting officials from the Ministry of Works and Transport led by Gen. Katumba Wamala.

The meeting centred on the planned activities in the Ministerial Policy Statement for financial year 2026/2027.

Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala attributed the cost escalation to changes in the project’s design and scope which he said include revised road alignments and additional infrastructure like interchanges and connecting roads.

Engineer-in-Chief, Stephen Kitonsa said that a technical review team had reassessed the project and arrived at the revised cost.

Kimosho dismissed explanations that the increase was purely technical, arguing that such a sharp jump pointed to deeper issues.

“This is science, not gambling. It is not possible that changes could amount to double the price,” he said adding that, ’there is a smelling rat in the project’.

He added that those responsible for the apparent financial loss had yet to be identified warning that accountability must be established.

The committee also heard that negotiations with the contractor remain incomplete despite Parliament previously approving additional funding to facilitate the project’s completion.

“As we speak now, we have not yet fully contracted the contractor for completion. The negotiations are still ongoing,” Gen. Katumba Wamala said.

He revealed that the contractor had initially lodged claims worth Shs578 billion, citing delays and idle equipment. 

Following negotiations, the claims were reduced significantly, with the contractor agreeing to settle for Shs78 billion.

Lawmakers expressed frustration at the prolonged negotiations with Bukanga North Member of Parliament, Hon. Nathan Byanyima questioning the delay.

The 23.7KM expressway is meant to ease traffic along the Kampala–Masaka Highway. 

Its construction stalled due to funding challenges before government secured additional financing from the African Development Bank.

Despite construction progress on the ground, MPs warned that continued delays and unexplained cost variations could expose the project to further financial risk.

“You can even have a third renegotiation at this rate if you don’t zero down on someone’s neck,” Kimosho cautioned.

Moroto District Woman Representative, Hon. Stella Atyang also raised concern over what she described as poor negotiation practices, arguing that taxpayers are bearing the cost of penalties and inefficiencies in road projects.

The committee directed the Ministry of Works and Transport to submit the original contract for the Busega–Mpigi Expressway as part of a probe into the project.

– on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.

Source: APO – Report:

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In Kigoma Region, a quiet but important change is transforming the fight against tuberculosis (TB). People who are suspected to have TB are now getting accurate results within hours instead of days. This means they can start treatment much earlier, recover faster, and reduce the risk of spreading the disease to others.

This progress is largely due to increased access to WHO-recommended molecular rapid diagnostic tools, including GeneXpert 10-color machines. These technologies are helping to strengthen TB and HIV services where it matters most at the frontline. It shows what can happen when countries invest in better diagnostic systems and make sure communities can access them.

Across the WHO African Region, TB remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases. Every 83 seconds, someone loses their life to TB. In 2024 alone, the disease caused about 378,000 deaths and 2.7 million infections accounting for a significant share of the global burden.

Tanzania is among the high TB burden countries, with an estimated 118,000 people infected and 23,500 deaths in 2024. Despite this, the country is making real progress. Between 2015 and 2024, TB deaths dropped by 75%, a major achievement that reflects years of focused effort.

These gains come from continued investment in the health system expanding diagnostic services, improving treatment, and reaching more people. In places like Kigoma, these efforts are already making a visible difference.

“We are grateful for the strong partnership between the Government of Tanzania, through the Ministry of Health, and WHO,” said Dr Joseph Emmanuel Nangawe, Medical Officer in Charge at Maweni Regional Referral Hospital. “With these advanced machines, we are expanding services to more facilities so people can be tested quickly and start treatment without delay.”

The benefits are clear: quicker and more accurate diagnosis, better detection of drug-resistant TB, and earlier treatment. For health workers, it makes decision-making easier. For patients, it brings hope—and a quicker path to getting better.

But ending TB is not just about hospitals and machines. It also depends on communities. Across Tanzania, community health workers, civil society groups, and TB survivors are helping to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and encourage people to seek care early and complete their treatment.

One TB survivor, Tausi Muhohoro put it simply:

“Tuberculosis can be treated, and people can fully recover. If you know someone who has been coughing for more than a week or shows signs of TB, please support them and help them get checked at the nearest health facility.”

Reaching a TB-free future will take continued effort. Governments need to keep investing in health systems. Partners and donors must help close funding gaps. And communities must stay involved driving awareness and supporting those affected.

From laboratories in Kigoma to communities across the country, Tanzania is showing that progress is possible. With strong leadership, sustained investment, and community involvement, ending TB is no longer out of reach it is achievable.

As WHO Regional Director for Africa, Prof. Mohamed Janabi, reminds us:

“Yes, we can end TB: led by countries, powered by people.”

Building on this momentum, WHO Country Representative to Tanzania, Dr Alex Gasasira, highlighted new efforts being introduced this year to improve TB diagnosis and access to care.

“WHO is introducing new recommendations to help close gaps in TB diagnosis, including easier testing methods like tongue swabs and more affordable, portable diagnostic tools that can reach people in remote areas,” he said.

WHO will continue to support the Ministry of Health to roll out these innovations and strengthen Tanzania’s response to TB.

– on behalf of World Health Organization – United Republic of Tanzania.

Source: APO – Report:

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Across the hills and lowland communities of Eastern Uganda, strengthened collaboration is transforming how routine immunisation and public health emergencies are addressed. In many of the 16 districts and one city that make up the Mbale Region, children in remote, hard-to-reach areas continue to face challenges in accessing life-saving vaccines. 

Through community-driven insights, committed district leadership, and sustained field coordination from the World Health Organization (WHO), partners have successfully turned data into meaningful action, extending services to children who had long remained underserved.

A major turning point came when the African Network for Care of Children Affected by HIV/AIDS (ANECCA) conducted extensive mapping of zero-dose and under-immunised children in Mbale, Tororo, and Kibuku districts. Going door to door, ANECCA teams identified children who were not captured in the routine immunisation system and highlighted health facilities struggling to deliver essential services. 

When WHO’s field coordination team received these findings, they acted quickly. Working alongside ANECCA and district leaders, WHO helped transform the data into targeted interventions. Joint supportive supervision visits were conducted in poorly performing facilities; health workers were assisted in identifying bottlenecks; and Village Health Teams and community influencers were mobilised to increase immunisation uptake.

With logistical support from WHO, teams reached hard-to-access facilities in Budwale, Wanale, and Merikit, even during heavy rains and difficult terrain. This support ensured that communities facing the steepest barriers were not left behind. 

Reflecting on the experience, Hilary Chelangat Ruth from ANECCA noted, “Basically, we are strengthening integration and collaboration now. Without you, some activities would have been so hard for us to implement. Just imagine those rainy days moving to Budwale and Wanale on a boda boda. WHO really did us well.”

Building on this momentum, the WHO field team expanded collaboration with District Health Teams in Pallisa, Sironko, and Butaleja districts, as well as Mbale City. Using the Reach Every District/Reach Every Child (RED/REC) categorisation approach, the team worked with district leaders to identify facilities most in need of support. 

Over time, they visited 28 facilities and conducted detailed assessments using the WHO Open Data Kit. These assessments helped document service delivery gaps, review immunisation performance, and develop immediate corrective actions. 

Health workers were supported in interpreting vaccination monitoring charts, improving data accuracy, and expanding the number of static immunisation sessions available to families throughout the week. At every facility, district Expanded Programme on Immunisation focal persons and assistant district health officers played an active role, ensuring strong district ownership and sustained follow up.

Alongside efforts to strengthen routine immunisation, the region also experienced several public health emergencies that required rapid WHO involvement. When measles outbreaks occurred in Butaleja and Bulambuli, the WHO coordinator joined the Regional Emergency Operations Centre to guide outbreak investigations, lead root cause analyses, and coordinate response actions with partners such as Baylor Uganda. 

This support helped reinforce district emergency response systems and ensured the timely implementation of control measures. Suspected anthrax outbreaks in Kween, as well as floods and landslides in Kween, Kapchorwa, and Bukwo, triggered additional WHO deployments. In each case, WHO provided technical leadership, facilitated coordination among national, regional, and district structures, and supported a harmonised response in areas affected by difficult terrain and rapidly changing conditions.

Together, these achievements show how partnerships and integration, driven by a shared commitment to ensure no child is left behind, make a difference. ANECCA’s community-level mapping illuminated the realities of children missing essential services, while WHO translated these insights into coordinated, district-led action. 

District Health Teams and Village Health Teams ensured that solutions were relevant and grounded in community needs. Through this collaboration, health systems in Eastern Uganda have grown stronger, communities have gained better access to essential services, and children who were once unreachable are now closer than ever to receiving the life-saving protection they deserve.

– on behalf of World Health Organization – Uganda.

Source: APO – Report:

The African Union Pan-African Institute for Education for Development (AU IPED), through the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX) Africa 19 Hub a joint initiative with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), has successfully concluded a three-day workshop in Juba, South Sudan, to support the strengthening of the country’s Education Management Information System (EMIS).

The workshop was undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) and brought together senior government leadership and technical teams from key departments, including EMIS, Planning and Budgeting, ICT, and Policy. The engagement enabled cross-functional dialogue and alignment across units responsible for the production, management, and use of education data, advancing a shared agenda for strengthening data systems and improving evidence-based decision-making. Strengthening EMIS remains critical for tracking progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) as well as the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2026–2035).

The workshop was officially opened by Mr. Adoumtar Noubatour, Head of AU IPED, alongside the Director General for Planning and Budgeting from South Sudan’s Ministry of General Education and Instruction Hon. George Maggo, and Mr. Mabor Tur, GPE KIX Focal Point for South Sudan. In their remarks, they underscored the central role of reliable and well-governed data systems in enabling effective planning, resource allocation, and improved learning outcomes across the education sector. “Without reliable data, planning remains guesswork, strong education systems are built on strong information systems.” – Hon. George Maggo, Director General for Planning and Budgeting from South Sudan’s Ministry of General Education.

Over the three-day engagement, AU IPED led technical consultations, system mapping, and collaborative working sessions with Ministry officials across EMIS, Planning, ICT, and Policy units. Through these engagements, participants traced how education data moves across the system – from handwritten classroom registers and school-level record books to state-level aggregation and national reporting platforms. This process revealed an EMIS landscape that is largely manual, fragmented across multiple systems, and heavily dependent on partner-supported tools, with limited integration between data streams. In practice, this has resulted in parallel reporting processes, inconsistencies in key education indicators, and delays in data availability for decision-making.

Through facilitated discussions, AU IPED supported participants to critically examine bottlenecks in data flow, gaps in standardization, and institutional capacity constraints, as well as the implications these challenges have on planning, resource allocation, and system performance. Particular attention was given to how data is collected, validated, and transmitted across levels, highlighting points where data quality is compromised or lost.

To ground these discussions in operational realities, AU IPED conducted field visits to public schools in Juba, where the team observed firsthand how education data is generated, recorded, and transmitted. The visits provided critical validation of system-level findings – demonstrating the reliance on paper-based tools, the burden placed on school-level staff, and the resilience of educators working within constrained environments, ensuring that proposed reforms are both practical and context-responsive.

The workshop highlighted a number of persistent and interrelated challenges affecting the effectiveness of EMIS in South Sudan:

• Fragmented and parallel data systems, including EMIS, statistical systems, and partner-supported tools, resulting in inconsistencies in key education indicators and limited interoperability
• Limited technical capacity across national and subnational levels, particularly in data management, analysis, and system administration
• Heavy reliance on manual, paper-based data collection at school level, increasing risks of data errors, delays, and limited real-time access to information
• Inadequate ICT infrastructure and connectivity, including limited access to computers, internet, and power supply – especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas
• Weak coordination mechanisms among stakeholders and development partners, leading to duplication of efforts and misalignment with Ministry systems
• Low levels of domestic financing for education data systems, resulting in high dependence on external funding and limited sustainability

Priority Recommendations to Strengthen EMIS

In response, participants identified a set of priority, system-level reforms:

• Strengthening data governance frameworks by clearly defining institutional roles and responsibilities, establishing data standards, and reinforcing accountability mechanisms
• Developing and institutionalizing standardized data collection tools, including instruments to capture critical indicators such as reasons for student dropout and exclusion
• Establishing structured partner coordination mechanisms, led by the Ministry, to align investments, harmonize tools, and reduce duplication
• Designing and implementing a sustainable capacity development strategy, targeting EMIS personnel at national and subnational levels
• Investing in ICT infrastructure and system integration to improve data reliability, accessibility, and use across the education system

A Costed National EMIS Action Plan

A key outcome of the mission was the development of a costed national EMIS action plan, led by the Ministry and supported by AU IPED. The plan translates identified challenges into a set of prioritized, actionable interventions, providing a clear framework for implementation.

Structured around five core investment areas, namely; capacity development, data quality improvement, ICT infrastructure and system integration, governance and policy strengthening, and decentralization, the plan outlines specific activities required to strengthen the EMIS ecosystem at national and subnational levels.

Indicative budget allocations – including targeted investments in training, infrastructure, data quality, governance, and decentralization, were proposed to support implementation. By linking priorities to costed interventions, the plan provides a sequenced and implementable roadmap to guide resource mobilization, partner alignment, and sustained system strengthening.

Looking Ahead

As South Sudan continues its transition from emergency response to long-term system strengthening, the outcomes of this mission represent an important step toward institutionalizing data-driven education planning and decision-making, in line with national priorities, Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), and Continental Education Strategy for Africa CESA 2026–2035.

Closing the engagement, Adoumtar Noubatour, Head of AU IPED, emphasized the importance of sustained leadership and commitment:

“Transforming education systems requires us to confront difficult realities and make deliberate choices. Strengthening education data systems is not easy – but it is essential if we are to build systems that serve every learner and support informed decision-making at all levels.”

– on behalf of African Union (AU).

Source: APO – Report:

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“There are various reasons for medication failure,” says Majaha Mtshali, tuberculosis (TB) focal person and staff nurse at Piggs Peak hospital in northwestern Eswatini. “When people do not take their medication correctly, whether by missing doses, taking it at the wrong times, receiving the wrong treatment, or stopping treatment early, there can be serious consequences.”

These serious consequences include drug resistance where the first-line treatment regimen no longer works. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), a form of TB caused by bacteria resistant to at least two of the the two most powerful first-line TB medicines, is more complex and more expensive to treat. Just like drug-sensitive TB, it can also be easily transmitted through the air when a person with TB coughs, sneezes, sings or simply talks, especially in crowded or poorly ventilated settings.

This is what happened to 40-year-old Babazile Ngwenya from Manzini, Eswatini’s second largest city. When she first contracted TB in 2012, she took the first-line regimen but stopped after two months. She later developed MDR-TB, likely because of incomplete treatment, and was admitted into hospital for seven months to ensure adherence. However, this did not work. She remembers feeling “overwhelmed”.

“The drugs were too many, that’s why I was defaulting,” she says.

At this time, people with MDR-TB had to take treatment for up to 18 months, using a complex combination of daily oral and injectable medicines.

In 2022, World Health Organization (WHO) recommended a shorter six-month, all-oral regimen known as BPaL(M), making treatment simpler and easier for patients to complete. Eswatini adopted this new regimen in 2023.  It is now standard treatment for patients diagnosed with MDR-TB.

“The shorter all-oral treatment regimen are preferable because they eliminate the need for painful daily injections, which can extend the treatment duration to up to 18 months, depending on the patient’s response,” says Mtshali.

When Ngwenya experienced persistent coughing, dizziness and shortness of breath in 2024 it was no surprise that she was diagnosed again with MDR-TB. “It was hard for me to admit I had TB again,” she says. She was admitted into hospital for three months because she also had anaemia and was administered the six-month BPaL(M) regimen. This time, she adhered to this easier treatment regimen and was cured.

Eswatini is one of the 30 high-burden TB countries globally. According to WHO estimates, Eswatini had a TB incidence of 319 per 100 000 population, including an estimated MDR-TB incidence of 13 per 100 000 population in 2024. “TB continues to be a major public health threat in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The situation is exacerbated by the HIV epidemic and rising rates of drug-resistant forms of TB, which are difficult to treat,” says Mduduzi Matsebula, Eswatini’s Minister of Health.

People diagnosed with MDR-TB are admitted to health facilities if they are very ill at the time of diagnosis or if their home environments do not allow adequate infection prevention and control. Discharge occurs once patients are stable and capable of continuing treatment at home.

“Adherence to treatment begins with proper counselling,” says Mtshali. “At the initiation of treatment, a patient is educated on TB disease and the importance of adherence. For MDR-TB patients, having a treatment supporter is essential.”

A range of supportive measures help the patient to adhere to treatment. Patients and their treatment supporters receive a monthly transport stipend. Monthly food packages are also given to the patient which cover 4‒6 household members. The patient’s treatment supporter, usually a family member, is provided with a card that they mark each observed dose. If the patient misses an appointment, the health facility will make a follow up by calling them. If necessary, they will also send a dedicated treatment adherence supporter on a motorbike to the patient’s home to follow up.

For Ngwenya, her support system was her family and her colleagues. “I thank my mom for being there for me, showing me love and care when I was in the hospital. If it were not for her, I would not be here,” she says.

In Eswatini, 86% of people diagnosed with MDR-TB in 2022 were treated successfully and the number of TB deaths has declined by 60% between 2015 and 2024. However, as of 2024, an estimated 54% of people with MDR-TB were either not diagnosed or initiated on appropriate treatment. Addressing these challenges requires targeted screening and a high-level of community involvement, as well as improving referral systems and data management.

WHO continues to support the Eswatini’s National TB Control Programme. In 2024, the WHO helped develop the new TB national strategic plan 2024‒2028 and the rollout of digital X-rays systems with computer aided diagnostics to strengthen TB case finding. In addition, WHO provides ongoing technical support to improve the quality of TB services and strengthen programme management.

“WHO will continue to play a central role in supporting the country to accelerate the TB response, guided by the latest WHO TB guidelines,” says Dr Susan Tembo WHO Representative in Eswatini. “Strong collaboration with affected communities and civil society remains critical to ensuring equitable access to care.”

Ngwenya is back at her job as a sales assistant at a boutique in Manzini, one that she was forced to quit after falling ill. She is well and upbeat. “TB can be treated and cured as long as you go get checked and helped when you experience symptoms,” she points out.

– on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) – Eswatini.