Uganda has a population of about 24.6 million people of which 90% live in rural areas and 10% in urban settings. It is estimated that one in every ten people has a disability, 2.46 million Ugandans therefore live with a disability. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has contributed greatly to these figures.
The health services in Uganda are largely curative in nature and situated in urban and peri-urban areas. The rural community, where many of the disabled live, are therefore not well served by health facilities.
In the 1995 Ugandan Constitutional amendment, a law for marginalized groups, was put in place that aimed to eliminate all forms of discrimination. As a result, people with disabilities are represented at all levels of the governing structure from Parliament to local village councils.