Monitoring progress towards health for all by the year 2000: indicators from Iganga District, Uganda.

A sample of 5018 inhabitants in three counties of Iganga district, Uganda was selected by means of a multi-stage cluster sampling procedure and interviewed in 1984. A sub sample was re-interviewed, the following year to study population dynamics. 50.2% of the population were under 15 years of age and 4.2% were aged one year or less. About 80% of both sexes aged 6-15 years were in school or had primary education. Male adult literacy rate was 62% and female adult literacy rate was 38%. The average number of people per sleeping room was 2.4. 82.9% of households used well or unprotected spring as main source of water and 30% of households did not have pit latrine. Infant mortality rate was estimated to be 126 per 1000 livebirths and measles was the major cause of mortality (38%) in the under fives. The crude birth rate estimate was 51 per 1000. The estimate of lameness due to polio was 6.6 per 1000 children aged 15 years or below. The mean weight and the mean height of the children were both below 50th percentile of the NCHS standards. In the re-survey, the crude birth rate and infant mortality rate estimates corresponded well to the initial values for the total sample obtained in the previous survey. 5% of the population had moved out of the village and 1.8% had moved to settle in the village. The growth rate in both weight and height of the under five children was satisfactory compared to the rate of the standard. From the result of the study, only six years after adoption of PHC in Uganda, the relatively high educational level of the younger population should be taken as a positive indicator of better health indices in the future.