President commends ex-US President Clinton for African trade promotion

President Yoweri Museveni has commended the former American President, Mr. Bill Clinton, for promoting Africa in global trade.

He was paying tribute today at the National Medical Stores in Entebbe during the launching of the “Scale up Diarrhea Treatment – Cut  Down Mortality” event.

The activity is being promoted by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) which is involved in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and diarrheal diseases. He said that under his leadership, the former US President, Mr. Clinton, enabled the African continent to enjoy tariff and quota free facilities for its products. He, therefore, paid tribute to former US President, George Bush Junior, for further promoting Africa in the sale of over 6,500 products under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) arrangement.

“If Ugandans spent less time bars and utilized these facilities, they would enhance their welfare”, Mr. Museveni noted. He said that the country could not fully utilize the opportunity due to the shortage of electricity and poor roads.

On a happy note, he assured the country that there would be no more power outages and therefore, wananchi should utilize the opportunity profitably. He said that Africa is now a huge potential market of 1 billion people adding that these can be big consumers of what the US produces. He also noted that in return, the US can be a big consumer of African products.

President Museveni thanked President Bill Clinton for visiting Uganda and also for enabling the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in the control of pneumonia, malaria and diarrhea. He said that CHAI has moved along with the World Health Organization (WHO) requirements in the control of malaria and pneumonia among children below 5 years of age.

He noted that the 14,000 children, who die per year in Uganda, form about 10% of infant mortality rate in the country. President Museveni said that oral rehydration salts (ORS) and zinc are to be given to health workers, noting that so far, 15,000 of them have been trained in the administration of ORS and zinc. He tasked the Uganda National Medical Stores to ensure the availability of ORS and Zinc. He was happy to reveal that the government has made preparations in administering human papilloma virus to protect girls against cancer of cervix. He added that the pneumonia vaccine is being administered effective this year and that of diarrheal diseases would be administered with effect from next year.

Former President Bill Clinton said that his visit was a symbol of the power of partnership adding that CHAI works in 70 countries to help people in the fight against HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, TB, malaria and diarrhea. He noted that HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria are the largest killers in the developing world.

He revealed that their target is to score a rate of 54 deaths per 1000 live births which is the current global rate. He was confident that this can be achieved in Uganda. He said that his initiative would provide the ORS and zinc.

He thanked President Museveni for welcoming his foundation to work in Uganda and the facilitation the government has rendered to it. He said “there will be no need to worry about children dying from diarrhea”.

The Minister of Health, Hon. Christine Ondoa, said that the Uganda government and CHAI have collaborated in the control of various diseases.  She noted that 250 health centres in the country have benefited from this collaboration.