Uganda

Pope Francis receives jubilant welcome in Uganda

By News Desk

Continuing his first-ever African tour as leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis delivered mass before thousands of people at Uganda's most famous Catholic shrine.

Here’s what some hotels do with those barely used bars of soap

By Larisa Epatko

Several years ago, Erin Zaikis was working in rural Thailand. She was surprised to see how many children in the village didn’t wash their hands with soap, much less know what soap was.

Gay rights, sex workers and HIV prevention: Uganda’s activists answer your questions

By Nora Daly

We asked for your questions for four activists and human rights workers who deal specifically with at-risk populations in Uganda. Read their answers.

Uganda’s gay rights and sex worker activists answer your questions about HIV prevention

By Nora Daly

As HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths around the world fall, rates in Uganda have been on the rise in recent years. Part of the problem, according to many of the world's top public health experts, is that the populations most…

Ugandan anti-gay law struck down in a ruling bittersweet for activists

By Nora Daly

Uganda’s anti-gay law, one of the harshest in the world, has been declared “null and void,” the AP reports.

As stigma against gays in Uganda spikes, so do HIV risks

By Jeffrey Brown, Jason Kane, Victoria Fleischer

While the United Nations has reported optimistic news about controlling the global epidemic of HIV and AIDS, Uganda’s infection rates are growing. Public health officials say the trend is partially tied to stigma faced by at-risk groups like gay men…

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Mentally ill shackled and neglected in Africa’s crisis regions

By Victoria Fleischer

Robin Hammond had never considered the long-term mental health effects on the Africans whose stories of war, famine and conflict he had covered for 12 years as a documentary photographer. But on a 2011 reporting trip to Sudan, he witnessed…

Uganda gays face life in prison under law

By PBS News Hour

For gays living in Uganda, just walking outside of their homes can be dangerous. And today, long-standing prejudice has been institutionalized into law with the country’s “Anti-Homosexuality Act,” which calls for harsh sentences for gay acts. Offenders convicted of “aggravated…

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Mother on Nigeria abductions: Each missing girl ‘is like my own child’

By Larisa Epatko

When more than 200 teenage girls were abducted last month from their boarding school in Nigeria, Angelina Atyam knew firsthand the anguish the parents were feeling.