Disclaimer: The content of this blog is mine alone and represents my own views and opinions and does not necessarily reflect the views of the US Government, the Peace Corps, or the Ugandan Government. Furthermore, the intention of this blog is not to malign, injure, or libel, any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual.
Photos and videos in this blog may not be reproduced without this bloggers expressed written permission.
Part Four: Pole Pole Ndio Mwendo
Week Seventy-Six/ November 2017
Something you may not have known about Uganda…
Fall
The Colonial Period 1877-1962
Prior to colonization by the British, the geographic region that makes up present day Uganda was comprised of independent well-established kingdoms, such as the Buganda, Ankole, Toro, Bunyoro, Teso, Acholi, Lango, and Busoga (Hansen, 1984, p. xvi). Beginning in the mid-1800s Arab traders arrived (Hansen, 1984, p.12), and in 1877 Anglican missionaries from London were invited to the region by the king of Buganda (Hansen, 1984, p.12), thus beginning the colonial period. The exact date that modern Uganda became a British Protectorate is difficult to determine since different kingdoms became part of the protectorate at different times, although the Uganda Agreement of 1900, is generally considered to be a reasonable reference point (Hansen, 1984, p. 8). Uganda remained a protectorate until 1962 (Rohner et al, 2013, p. 3).
Critically, in 1895, Joseph Chamberlain became Secretary of State for the colonies and applied his theory of “constructive imperialism,” (Crozier, 2005, p. 20), constructive imperialism, which purported that colonial procedure required standardization across the colonies for the aim of “defence [sic.] and commerce” of the empire (Crozier, 2005, p. 20). This led Chamberlain to place a strong emphasis on colonial medicine, because colonial medicine was viewed as a critical tool for colonial expansion and trade, and eventually led to the opening of the London and Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine in 1899 (Crozier, 2005, p. 21). The colonies were viewed as arteries pumping blood to a heart, often to the neglect of the arteries. “The economic arrangement of Empire meant that territorial issues of economic feasibility were constantly over-riding any sense of geographic and vocational identity.” (Crozier, 2005, p. 54) The colonies were perceived as subjects to be studied and utilized for the benefit of the empire to the neglect of the local population.
In addition, the British colonizers developed infrastructure prioritizing foreign workers and empire rather than those living in the colony (Farmer et al, 2013, loc. 1568). Generally, across the British colonies, this meant that health care services were constructed in large cities and along the coasts, neglecting the interior, resources which are difficult to quickly redistribute post-colonization (Greene et al, 2013, loc. 1567). This was the case in Uganda, where prior to independence there was paltry infrastructure and the health care that did exist was inaccessible to the local population; in fact, “the main mode of health care for the native population was through ‘traditional’ (non-Western) medical practice.” (Seenyonga and Seremba, 2007, p. 623) Yet concurrently, colonizers positioned themselves as the sole producers of knowledge, particularly surrounding medicine, devaluing local knowledge and inorganically restructuring societies, which contributed to instability post-colonization. Much like the Belgians in Rwanda, ethnic divisions were “fostered by the British colonization as part of a divide-and-rule strategy. In particular, the colonial administration restricted interethnic movements” (Rohner et al, 2013, p. 10), in order to further partitions between ethnic groups. Instability, Ghobarah et al (2004) contends, affects a country’s approach to and consequently comprehensiveness of health care (p. 74). Thus, when Uganda gained its independence in 1962, it inherited infrastructure centered in a few urban areas of the country, few medical resources, and ethnic divisions.
Immediately post-independence, the newly sovereign government made efforts to move curative medical services to more rural areas and to train Ugandan nurses and doctors; however, the system largely collapsed under Idi Amin in the 1970s (Ssenyonga and Seremba, 2007, p. 624).
Crozier, A. (2005). The Colonial Medical Officer and Colonial Identity: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania before World War Two. University of London.
Farmer, Paul. (2003). Pathologies of Power. [Kindle 2.0.0.7 Version] University of California Press.
Farmer, P., Kim, J. Y., Kleinman, A., & Greene, J. Basilico, M. (2013). Reimagining global health: an introduction. Vol. 26. [Kindle 2.0.0.7 Version]. University of California Press.
Ghobarah, H.A., Huth, P., and Russett, B. (2004). Comparative Public Heath: The Political Economy of Human Misery and Well-Being. International Studies Quarterly, 48(10): 73-94.
Hansen, H. (1984). Mission, Church and State in a Colonial Setting, Uganda 1980-1925. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.
Rohner, D., Thoenig, M. & Zilibotti, F. J Econ Growth (2013). Seeds of Distrust: Conflict in Uganda. Journal of Economic Growth. 18: 217. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-013-9093-1
Ssenyonga, R., & Seremba, E. (2007). Family Medicine’s Role in Health Care Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Uganda as an Example. Family Medicine. 39(9): 623-6.
Twasula Wano mu Uganda 