Travel East Africa in your imagination with Engo Tours and Adventures!
Now, while African travel is largely not possible, thanks to Covid-19, let us take the time to plan a first class trip for you. Our meticulously well-planned safaris and urban tours guarantee an amazing African adventure, viewing animals, fishing, hiking and mountain climbing, bird-watching (there are more species of birds in Uganda than in all of North America), and luxuriating in Africa’s great camps and sophisticated hotels and restaurants.
We will put together a complete tour, based on your specific requirements and fondest wishes, and will hold your itinerary until you’re ready to make it come true. Once we are all free to travel again, arrange your dates and come live the adventure that you have, so far, only been able to imagine! As soon as the lockdown is lifted, this offer will disappear, so contact us now, and let’s get this journey started!
The cost for your detailed itinerary is just $50 for each week that you plan to travel. The non-refundable itinerary cost will be credited to your trip quote.
This special, very affordable offer is only available while the lockdown is in effect in East Africa, so don’t delay!
Uganda already has so many world-class properties for our guests to enjoy. This new effort will bring so many more up to standard, while Uganda remains one of the best value-for-money destinations.
The range of food in Kampala is dazzling — virtually every African country is represented and many other countries as well — from India and Thailand to China, Mexico, Nigeria, France…and many more.
For this multi-day indulgence in Kampala’s best we chose 4 of its finest restaurants: Ethiopian Villages; Bight of Benin; St Anthony and The Lawns.
We brought along our 4 year old son, Mukisa, as he has the appetite of a rhino, although he’s got nicer feet.
The first night, at the Lawns, he chose crocodile and he gobbled it down just like a croc. He is definitely not a picky eater. Other nights he tried the ostrich, the cape buffalo, and the impala.
Like me, he enjoys the atmosphere of The Lawns — big trees adjacent to the golf course, lush flowers, and water everywhere.
The next night we tried Ethiopian Village. “Is that a chapati?” Muki asked. “It is not,” I replied. “It is a very large piece of bread. It’s called injera. And it is the largest disc of bread you’re ever likely to encounter.”
At St. Anthony’s we had luwombo, muchomo and various other Ugandan delicies. Muki ate them without discrimination, and with many appreciative sounds.
The final night, at Bight of Benin, we inhaled many wonderful Ghanian treats.
But the eating doesn’t stop when you leave the restaurant or cafe. The Kampala street food scene is designed to indulge, and indulge it does. The offerings are delicious and varied — vendors will serve large slices of watermelon, mango, pineapple, passion fruit, bananas and any other tropical delicacies you may dream of.
Continuing your eating pleasure as you stroll, you can select from an array of samosas (deep-fried pastry triangles filled with mixtures of meat and vegetables); chapatis; rolex (fried chapatis rolled with eggs, tomato and cabbage — among other variations); pork, goat and beef sausage; beef, pork and goat ribs; smoked tilapia; fried cassava; rice, beans and matooke; BBQ perch; and, Muki’s favorite, fried grasshoppers.
There is plenty of beer on offer, as well as wine, waragi, whisky and more. For children, there are many excellent fresh fruit juices, such as watermelon, orange, pineapple, apple, and numerous blends.
As part of your Kampala visit we can plan a focused food tour of the city’s wonderful first class eateries. You will not be disappointed!
The first malaria vaccine to show more than 75% efficacy, a World Health Organization specified goal, has been developed by scientists at the University of Oxford!
Health care providers, security personnel, teachers, journalists, persons aged 50 years and above and those with underlying health conditions to benefit from phase one of vaccination
KAMPALA- Friday, 5 March 2021– The Ministry of Health has today received 864,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, shipped via the COVAX facility—the world’s facility for universal access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The arrival marks a historic step towards the goal to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, in an unprecedented effort to provide at least 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021. Uganda targets to vaccinate 49.6 per cent of the population, which is about 21,936,011, in a phased manner. Each phase is planned to cover 20 per cent of the population – approximately 4.38 million people.
The vaccine doses were received at Entebbe International Airport by Uganda’s Health Minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero accompanied by members of the COVAX Facility and ambassadors of the European Union and countries whose funding enabled manufacturing, transport, and distribution.
COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi – the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in partnership with UNICEF as key implementing partner. UNICEF is handling the procurement and delivery of the vaccines and related supplies on behalf of the COVAX Facility.
The AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) were transported by UNICEF from India (Mumbai) to Uganda.
The COVAX facility has allocated 3,552,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Uganda for the period of January – June 2021. The remaining 2,688,000 doses are expected by June 2021.
The first phase of the FREE vaccination will target health workers in public and private health facilities who by the nature of their work are at higher risk of contracting the disease compared to other categories of people. Other target groups in order of priority are security personnel; teachers; humanitarian front-line workers, people above 50 years with underlying conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart, kidney, or liver disease; people aged 18-50 with the same underlying conditions; and other emerging high risk and priority essential groups as more vaccine doses arrive in the country.
“The Ministry of Health is finalizing preparations to start vaccination against COVID-19 and with the arrival of the initial batch of 864,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines today, vaccination is scheduled to begin on 10 March 2021,” Dr. Aceng said.
“The arrival of the vaccines in Uganda is a significant moment and a concrete example of global solidarity in action,” said EU Ambassador to Uganda, H.E. Attilio Pacifici. “Ever since the outbreak of this unprecedented crisis, which is affecting all of us, the European Union and its Member States have supported Uganda and our other African partners in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Health care providers have been pivotal in managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda. With their crucial role, dealing with patients, comes the high risk of being infected with the disease. We, therefore, thought it wise to have them immunized first along with teachers to protect them,” said the WHO Representative to Uganda, Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam.
“We specially want to thank the donor partners including the European Union, the UK Government, The United States of America and others for the support they made to COVAX through GAVI to make this possible,” he added.
UNICEF Representative in Uganda, Dr. Munir Safieldin said, “Today marks an important milestone for Uganda. UNICEF is pleased to be a key partner in the COVAX Facility by ensuring that the vaccines are delivered to the people that need them most.”
“Unless we protect health care providers, health systems will remain overwhelmed, and the most vulnerable children will continue to lose access to life-saving services, risking years of progress and resulting in the poorest children falling further behind. The faster we can combat the pandemic, the faster Uganda can recover, leading to schools re-opening, health centers functioning and ensuring that serious disruptions to children’s lives end,” Safieldin underlined.
The main objective of the National Deployment Vaccination Plan (NDVP) is to vaccinate up to 49.6 per cent of the population in a phased manner. Each phase is intended to cover 20 per cent of the population. The eligible population comprises of individuals 18 years and above.
Notes to Editors
About COVAX
· COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Gavi) and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in partnership with UNICEF as key implementing partner, developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, the World Bank, and others. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.
· CEPI is focused on the COVAX vaccine research and development portfolio: investing in R&D across a variety of promising candidates, with the goal to support development of three safe and effective vaccines which can be made available to countries participating in the COVAX Facility. As part of this work, CEPI has secured first right of refusal to potentially over one billion doses for the COVAX Facility to a number of candidates, and made strategic investments in vaccine manufacturing, which includes reserving capacity to manufacture doses of COVAX vaccines at a network of facilities, and securing glass vials to hold 2 billion doses of vaccine. CEPI is also investing in the ‘next generation’ of vaccine candidates, which will give the world additional options to control COVID-19 in the future.
· Gavi is focused on procurement and delivery for COVAX: coordinating the design, implementation and administration of the COVAX Facilityand the Gavi COVAX AMC and working with its Alliance partners UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, on country readiness and delivery. The COVAX Facility is the global pooled procurement mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines through which COVAX will ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for all 190 participating economies, using an allocation framework formulated by WHO. The COVAX Facility will do this by pooling buying power from participating economies and providing volume guarantees across a range of promising vaccine candidates. The Gavi COVAX AMC is the financing mechanism that will support the participation of 92 low- and middle-income countries in the Facility, enabling access to donor-funded doses of safe and effective vaccines. Gavi is coordinating and fundraising for the COVAX AMC and its no-fault compensation mechanism, and funding UNICEF procurement of vaccines as well as partners’ and governments work on readiness and delivery, including support cold chain equipment, technical assistance, syringes, vehicles, and other aspects of the vastly complex logistical operation for delivery. UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) will be acting as procurement coordinators for the COVAX Facility, helping deliver vaccines to COVAX AMC participants and others.
· WHO has multiple roles within COVAX: It provides normative guidance on vaccine policy, regulation, safety, R&D, allocation, and country readiness and delivery. Its Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization develops evidence-based immunization policy recommendations. Its Emergency Use Listing (EUL) / prequalification programmes ensure harmonized review and authorization across member states. It provides global coordination and member state support on vaccine safety monitoring. It developed the target product profiles for COVID-19 vaccines and provides R&D technical coordination.WHO leads, together with UNICEF, the Country Readiness and Delivery workstream, which provides support to countries as they prepare to receive and administer vaccines. Along with Gavi and numerous other partners working at the global, regional, and country-level, the CRD workstream provides tools, guidance, monitoring, and on the ground technical assistance for the planning and roll-out of the vaccines.Along with COVAX partners, WHO has developed a no-fault compensation scheme as part of the time-limited indemnification and liability commitments.
· UNICEF is leveraging its experience as the largest single vaccine buyer in the world and working with manufacturers and partners on the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine doses, as well as freight, logistics and storage. UNICEF already procures more than 2 billion doses of vaccines annually for routine immunization and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries. In collaboration with the PAHO Revolving Fund, UNICEF is leading efforts to procure and supply doses of COVID-19 vaccines for COVAX. In addition, UNICEF, Gavi and WHO are working with governments around the clock to ensure that countries are ready to receive the vaccines, with appropriate cold chain equipment in place and health workers trained to dispense them. UNICEF is also playing a lead role in efforts to foster trust in vaccines, delivering vaccine confidence communications and tracking and addressing misinformation around the world.
About CEPI
· CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations, launched at Davos in 2017, to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics. CEPI has moved with great urgency and in coordination with WHO in response to the emergence of COVID-19. CEPI has initiated ten partnerships to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus. The programmes are leveraging rapid response platforms already supported by CEPI as well as new partnerships.
Before the emergence of COVID-19, CEPI’s priority diseases included Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever and Chikungunya virus. CEPI also invested in platform technologies that can be used for rapid vaccine and immunoprophylactic development against unknown pathogens (Disease X).
About Gavi
· Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 822 million children – and prevented more than 14 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching the unvaccinated children still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.
About WHO
· The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.
·UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org. For more information about COVID-19, visit www.unicef.org/coronavirus . Find out more about UNICEF’s work on the COVID-19 vaccines here, or about UNICEF’s work on immunization here.
· The Access to COVID-19 Tools ACT-Accelerator, is a new, ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. It was set up in response to a call from G20 leaders in March and launched by the WHO, European Commission, France and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in April 2020.
· The ACT-Accelerator is not a decision-making body or a new organisation but works to speed up collaborative efforts among existing organisations to end the pandemic. It is a framework for collaboration that has been designed to bring key players around the table with the goal of ending the pandemic as quickly as possible through the accelerated development, equitable allocation, and scaled up delivery of tests, treatments and vaccines, thereby protecting health systems and restoring societies and economies in the near term. It draws on the experience of leading global health organisations which are tackling the world’s toughest health challenges, and who, by working together, are able to unlock new and more ambitious results against COVID-19. Its members share a commitment to ensure all people have access to all the tools needed to defeat COVID-19 and to work with unprecedented levels of partnership to achieve it.
· The ACT-Accelerator has four areas of work: diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines and the health system connector. Cross cutting all of these is the workstream on Access & Allocation.
Media Contacts
In Ministry of Health: Emmanuel Ainebyoona, Senior Public Relations Officer, +256 779220588, emmabyoona@gmail.com
In WHO: Benjamin Sensasi, Health Promotion Advisor and Communications Officer, +256772507906, sensasib@who.int
Edmond Mwebembezi, Public Information Officer, +256786497073, mwebembezie@who.int
In UNICEF: Catherine Ntabadde, Communication Specialist, +256 772147111, cntabadde@unicef.orgPrimary country
OCHA coordinates the global emergency response to save lives and protect people in humanitarian crises. We advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has extended the discount on fees for park entrance, birding, gorilla, and chimpanzee permits to end of June to promote visits to the national parks.
The initial promotion started in December 2020 was scheduled to end this month.
The extension, officials from UWA and tourism sector say, was occasioned by low tourist visits to the game parks due to the global lockdowns triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We make reference to our letter dated November 27, 2020 offering promotional prices on park entrance, birding and gorilla permits from December 2020 to date. We have reviewed the performance progress, so far and have agreed to extend this promotion from March to June 2021,” Mr Sam Mawanda, the UWA executive director, said.
Mr Mawanda says the promotional rates offer 50 per cent discount on park entrance and birding fees each to all national parks and wildlife reserves across the country.
The normal park entrance fees for foreign non-residents stands at $40 (Shs146,000), while foreign residents pay $30 (Shs110,104).ADVERTISEMENT
Those from the East African region pay Shs20,000 for adults, pupils and students, who visit in groups, pay Shs3,000 each, and wildlife clubs pay Shs2,000 for category A national parks. The national parks in this category include Murchison Falls, Kidepo Valley, Queen Elizabeth, Bwindi Impenetrable, Mgahinga Gorilla, Kibaale, and Lake Mburo.
Gorilla and chimpanzee fees have also been slashed by about half. According to the promotional rates, East African citizens will pay Shs150,000, foreign residents pay $300 (Shs1.1m), while foreign non-residents will pay $400 (Shs1.5m), down from Shs250,000, $600 (Shs2.2m) and $700 (2.5m), respectively.
East African citizens pay Shs100,000 for chimpanzee permits, foreign residents pay $100 (Shs366,715), while foreign non- residents pay $150 (Shs550,073) down from Shs150,000, $150 (Shs550,073) and $200 (Shs733,432) for nationals, foreign residents and foreign non-residents.
“The reduction on gorilla and chimpanzee fees will only apply to new purchases between April 1and June 30 and not on reschedules of already deposited on permits ,” Mr Mawanda said.
Mr John Gesa Simplicious, the UWA spokesperson, said the extension is meant to promote domestic tourism and give chance to more Ugandans to visit the parks. ADVERTISEMENT
