The increase in health care facilities in Uganda has resulted in an increase in health care waste (HCW) which poses a serious pollution threat to the environment and to the general public health. Improper disposal practices of HCW affect the people who come in direct contact with it. HCW can cause environmental pollution, unpleasant odours, and growth of insects, rodents and worms. HCW may lead to transmission of diseases like cholera, HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B and C through injuries from sharps contaminated with human blood. This research was conducted to assess Health care waste management (HCWM) practices in Uganda with case studies being taken in Kampala with a view of assessing the current handling practices, determining the different categories and composition of HCW and designing an appropriate HCWM system. This research was carried out at St. Francis hospital Nsambya, Mulago national referral hospital and Makerere University Hospital The satisfaction of the objectives was done through examination of the selected waste management practices. Sampling, sorting and weighing of the total waste generated per day was carried out for a period of one month for Nsambya hospital and one week for both Mulago National Referral and Makerere University hospitals. According to our findings, generated waste was put into three categories; infectious, non-infectious and sharps. Waste was dominated by infectious waste (63%-77%), followed by non-infectious waste (18%-32%) and sharps (3%-5%). Makerere university hospital generated 70% of infectious waste, 23% of non-infectious waste and 3% of sharps. Mulago hospital generated 77% infectious waste, 18% non-infectious and 5% sharps. For Nsambya Hospital the variation of waste generated ranged from 63%-66% infectious waste, 31%-32% non-infectious waste and 3%-5% sharps for different weeks in a month. It was also found that the total quantity of waste generated varies on different days in the different weeks for the case of Nsambya. For all three hospitals; waste handling practices varied slightly right from the point of generation to the temporary storage. If the results from our findings are adopted and recommendations implemented, we expect a reduction in the risk of people getting infected especially the on-site health care workers, reduction in threat to the environment and reduced risk of soil and ground water contamination. According to WHO, hospitals ideally produce more of non- infectious waste compared to the infectious waste. This wasn‟t obtained in this study due to the failure in hospitals to sufficiently segregate waste. There is need for adoption of a more economic and environmentally friendly healthcare waste management system as proposed.

This study was about designing marketing plan for Uganda Christian Institute for Professional Development (UCIPD) Library located in Boroboro outside Lira via Kampala -Gulu Highway. It was performed under that the following objectives; to identify need for marketing library services, to establish the current methods of marketing library services, to find out the challenges to marketing library services, and to design a marketing plan of the library services. This study looked forwards to identify solution to underutilization of resources and services and it was significant to library users, University management, librarians and also information professional. It also confined its self around geographic scope, source of information, contextual and time scope. This study usedcase study design while embracing qualitative research approach. A target population of three (3) participants were selected and purposive sampling technique was adopted. A sample size of three (3) were given a chance to participate in this research and different data collection methods like interview method and document analysis were considered and adopted to support data collection. The researcher conducted qualitative data analysis while analyzing data and different data quality control techniques were adopted to ensure validity and reliability of information. Researcher identified that among selected respondents, two were male and one female aged between 25-45 years. He also identified that at UCIPD, student mostly go to library during test and examination. Researcher identified different types of services in UCIPD library as, book loan services, current awareness services and others. When marketing library services, different method were adopted such as advertising through emails, social media and prints. In the process of marketing, UCIPD library has faced a number of challenges like lack of trained staff, inadequate information materials, unstable power supply, and lack of enough funds to market their services and loss and damage of information materials by the users. In order to improve mentioned challenges, some suggestions were made like training staff members, installation of automatic generator and setting up strict punishments to victims of damaging and losing information materials. Recommendations were made such as communicating new services to target audience and others.

Vegetables are increasingly proving to be essential for nutrition and food security as they provide adequate amounts of micronutrients and non-nutrient compounds for humans. They also provide a promising economic opportunity for reducing rural poverty and unemployment in developing economies. Dried vegetables and their application in powder form is gaining interest in the food industry as ingredients, also used as intermediate products in the beverage industry, used in perfumery and cosmetics as well as resources for nutraceutical. Traditionally, grinding of dried vegetables is done using pestles and mortars which requires a lot of effort leading to limited production capacities and poor quality of produce. Also small vegetable grinding machines exist but there is need to make available grinding machines that have low production costs. To ensure that they are readily available and affordable for local vegetable powder producers, a hand operated vegetable grinding machine was designed and fabricated. The materials used in the fabrication of the machine are sourced locally so as to ensure that it is cheap, affordable and easily maintained by the small scale processors and house hold families. The machine consists of the frame, crank handle, feed hopper, grinding chamber, conveying chamber, grinding discs, and the adjusting screw system. Tests were carried out to investigate the performance of the machine on the basis of grinding rate, efficiency and quality of the product produced. The grinding capacities of the machine obtained were 4.47 kg/hr, 4.65 kg/hr and 4.8 kg/hr for Gobe, Nakati and Ddodo respectively. The machine efficiencies were 84.75%, 85% and 84.25% for Gobe, Nakati and Ddodo respectively. The hand operated vegetable grinding machine is cheap, durable and cost of operation is low and could be used by household families and small scale processors. Keywords: Hand operated, Grinding, Vegetable powder.

It is estimated that about 80% or more of the low-income peri-urban population in developing countries is currently using groundwater for drinking water purposes (Croni et al., 2006). Urban groundwater quality in these peri-urban and urban settlements is, therefore, an issue of increasing concern due to the high rates of contamination generation per unit area and limited waste management systems (Pegram et al., 1999). This research aims at evaluating the level of groundwater vulnerability to pollution in Jinja district and also identify areas in Jinja where groundwater vulnerability to pollution is most using the SEEPAGE model. In the analysis, the vulnerability index is calculated by considering different hydrogeological parameters such as water table depth, topography/soil slope, vadose zone material, aquifer material, soil depth, and attenuation potential. All parameters for this study have been prepared, classified, weighted, and integrated into the Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. The SEEPAGE vulnerability index values ranged from 120 to 577. Areas with low vulnerability to pollution have an index ranging from 120 to 272, covering about 46% of the district; those with moderate vulnerability ranged from 272 to 424, covering about 43% of the district while those with high vulnerability ranged from 424 to 577 covering about 11% of the district. The results show that Jinja’s largest area lies in the low vulnerability zone hence a low potential of pollution of groundwater. The single parameter sensitivity analysis indicated that depth to water table has the most significant influence on the vulnerability index, with an average weight of 31% against the theoretical weight of 25%. The slope has the least influence on the vulnerability index with an average weight of 12% against the theoretical weight of 10%. This study recommends the implementation of environmental management decisions aimed at mitigating the threat of pollutants on groundwater. The research implores that this model can, therefore, be an effective tool for local authorities in groundwater asset planning and preservation and formulation of efficient groundwater management strategies.

Climate change has become a widespread topic in recent years. This is a problem that resulted from the emission of greenhouse gases that affect our environment. Therefore, it raises questions on whether the problem is caused by human activities or it’s just part of nature’s cycle. This paper discusses and compares the factors that contribute to climate change by humans and nature, effects of climate change, and solutions that are done to combat climate change from progressing, In the world we live in today it’s not right to talk about climate change and climate the livelihoods of people because in either way both factors bring an effect to each other and their change in the status quo influence a change to development. Human use the environment to achieve a sustainable livelihood hence development and the extent to which the environment is used can either influence positive or negative effects which bring in climate changes. Climate change either way isn’t brought by its self but it’s influenced by the dynamic changes influenced by human beings in regards for them to fulfill their needs and to bring development in their lives. The study examined climate changes in Nankulabye zone 6, Rubaga Division. The objectives of the study were, (a) to assess the causes of climate change, (b) to find out the effects of climate change, (c) to identify the possible solutions to climate change. Qualitative research questions were used for the study because the aim of the research was to get an insight on how climate change has influenced a change in people’s livelihood. To this end, in-depth interviews, observation and questionnaire data collection methods were used to carry out research. A study sample of 25 participants was drawn using probability sampling (random sampling).

This study sought to determine the influence of different parenting styles on adolescent delinquency in Bweyogerere Town Council, Wakiso district. The study was conducted in Bweyogerere Town Council, Wakiso district among 100 randomly respondents. Data was collected using self-administered closed ended questionnaires. From findings, authoritative parenting style has a negative influence on adolescent delinquency (R= -0.455, p = 0.00). Authoritarian parenting style has almost no influence adolescent delinquency (R= 0.09, p = 0.371) and permissive parenting style has a positive influence on adolescent delinquency (R= 0.204, p = 0.042) in Bweyogerere Town Council, Wakiso district. Conclusions and recommendations: There is a dire need for parents to enhance authoritative parenting style and limit both authoritarian parenting style and permissive parenting styles.

Introduction: HAART reduces the risk of mother to child transmission, morbidity plus mortality among HIV-infected pregnant and breastfeeding women. To optimize these outcomes, pregnant and breastfeeding women need to be virologically suppressed while on HAART. However, there is paucity of data regarding viral load testing and virologic status among these women in Mayuge District and Uganda as a whole. General objective: To determine the trend of viral load testing and virologic non-suppression plus associated factors among HIV-infected among pregnant or breastfeeding women in the PMTCT program in Mayuge district in order to improve outcomes of PMTCT program in Uganda. Methods: This was a cross sectional study design with concurrent mixed methods. Quantitative data was abstracted from records and qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews. Data of 575 eligible women was entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and analyzed using STATA version 13.0. Fourteen (14) in-depth interviews were conducted for both virologically suppressed and non-suppressed pregnant or breastfeeding mothers. Quarterly proportions of first viral load testing and virologic nonsuppression were calculated to get trends of each outcome. Factors associated with virologic nonsuppression were assessed for at both bivariate and multivariable level using logistic regression with their 95% confidence intervals and P-values. Qualitative data was analyzed manually using thematic analysis. Results: A total of 575 records of eligible women were reviewed; median age was 28 (IQR: 23, 32) median gestational age at enrolment was 23.0 weeks (IQR 23.0, 28.0) and 77.6% were multiparous at enrolment into PMTCT Program. Overall, 65.4% (95% CI: 61.5 – 69.3) of the women had a first Viral load test since entry into PMTCT Program with VL testing highest between October 2016 and December 2016 (94.7%) and lowest in the period between April 2017 and June 2017 (51.3%). There was a significant decline in trend of first viral load testing over time (p < 0.001). Overall virologic nonsuppression proportion was 11.2%, the highest proportion of virologic non-suppression (25%) was registered between October 2016 and December 2016 and the lowest (4.8%) was among women enrolled from April 2018-June 2018. Being on ART for more than 24 months ART [aOR=2.99; 95% CI (1.15 – 7.79)] was significantly associated with higher odds of virologic non-suppression whereas multiparous women [aOR=0.32; 95%CI (0.13 – 0.78) ], were less likely to be virologically nonsuppressed. Poor adherence was the single mentioned reason for virologic non-suppression by the women. From the lived experiences of both suppressed and non-suppressed women, adherence to ARVs and patient knowledge/information regarding virologic suppression emerged as major themes. Barriers to ARV adherence included fear to start ARVs, forgetfulness and long distances from the health facilities. Information on virologic suppression was limited among both the suppressed and nonsuppressed women. Conclusion and recommendation: There was a declining trend of first viral load testing but virologic non-suppression remained above the acceptable 10% among women in PMTCT program in Mayuge district. Predictors of virologic non-suppression were parity and duration on ART. Fear to start ARVs, forgetfulness, long distances and lack of food were the barriers to ARV drug adherence and all women had limited information regarding virologic suppression. We recommend strengthening of monitoring and evaluation of viral load testing, interventions aimed at improving adherence and use of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs).. Furthermore, health workers need to communicate consistent and accurate information to patients regarding virologic suppression.

Green gram production is mainly constrained by diseases such as Cercospora leaf spot, Mung bean yellow mosaic virus and the powdery mildew. There is diversity in green gram germplasm grown by farmers in Uganda but with limited information on their resistance to Cercospora leaf spot, Mung bean yellow mosaic virus and powdery mildew. Use of resistant varieties is the only affordable, sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to manage these major diseases. However, no comprehensive study has been done in Uganda on the resistance of the different green gram genotypes to Cercospora leaf spot, powdery mildew and Mung bean yellow mosaic virus. The objective of this study was to determine the resistance of green gram genotype to Cercospora leaf spot, powdery mildew and Mung bean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV). A field experiment was conducted at Makerere University Agricultural Research institute Kabanyolo (MUARIK). The experiment was set in RCBD design. Sixteen genotypes were evaluated. Data was collected on disease incidence and severity. Severity was determined by scoring using scale of 0-9 for Cercospora leaf spot and MYMV, and 0-5 for powdery mildew. Data was subjected to analysis of variance using Genstat statistical package (version, 14). Analysis of variance revealed that incidences of MYMV and powdery mildew diseases were significant between genotypes (P ≤ 0.05). Cercospora leaf spot incidence not significant between genotypes (P > 0.05). Severities of the Cercospora leaf spot, powdery mildew and Mung bean yellow mosaic virus diseases of green gram were significant between both genotypes and days after sowing (P ≤ 0.01). Powdery mildew occurred late in the season (at 63 days after sowing). Severity scoring revealed that none of the green gram genotypes was resistant to Cercospora leaf spot and Mung bean yellow mosaic virus. Eight of the genotypes were moderately resistant to (HT5A, HT18A, HT18B, HT18R, HT19B, HT24B, HT25 and HT36B) MYMV. Fourteen of the genotypes were resistant to powdery mildew (TH5A, HT5B, HT17, HT18A, HT18B, HT18R, HT19A, HT19B, HT24A, HT24B, HT25, HT35B, HT36A, and HT36B) while two genotypes (HT33 and HT35B) were moderately resistant to powdery mildew. The findings of the study revealed that green gram genotypes reacted differently to the three diseases they were screened. The genotypes showing resistance and moderate resistance to powdery mildew and MYMV respectively should be evaluated in other regions of Uganda (eastern, north eastern, and northern regions) for consistency of the results and be used for future crop improvement program of green gram. Genotype HT36B should be used as check genotype since it showed promising results during this first evaluation.