1.3. Background and Motivation of this Thesis

The main work for this thesis was done in Fort Portal, Uganda. Fort Portal is the district capitol of Kabarole District, which is located in the western parts of Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains, the "Mountains of the Moon".

Uganda, which was nick-named the "Pearl of Africa" by the British colonialists, has suffered from many troubles during her short time of existence. Only nine years after an optimistic change from colonial rule into independence in 1962, the first president of Uganda, Milton Obote, was overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971. With his despotic and cruel regime, Amin led Uganda to dubious international fame and into organizational and economical disaster. He was defeated at the end of a lost war with Tanzania in 1979. A series of presidents followed. One of them was again Obote, who soon picked up Amins habits of dictatorial rule. It was not until 1986, that Yoweri Museveni seized power after five years of guerilla war. Museveni formed a transitional government which now enjoys national and international appreciation because of its promising efforts towards a functioning democracy and its very liberal policies. (comprised from [SEFTEL (1994)])

However, Uganda still suffers from the wounds of the many years of war and dictatorship. Great efforts had to be invested into the reconstruction of administrative structures. In Kabarole, the district health system is being improved by the Western Uganda Basic Health Services Program since October 1988. It is a joint venture between the government of Uganda, implemented by the Ministry of Health, and the Federal Republic of Germany, implemented by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). It was designed in March 1987 "to re-establish a comprehensive Basic District Health Service in Kabarole and [neighboring] Bundibugyo districts" ([DHT KABAROLE (no Year)]). In the context of a hospitation, it was possible for the author of this thesis to contribute to the efforts on improving the health information system of the district.

Fig. 1.3-1: Uganda is one of the East African states.