‘Death can find you’: healing in Uganda’s most dangerous region

An eye doctor, a vet and a midwife talk about serving the people of Karamoja, where lives are marked by poverty and sudden violence

In north-east Uganda, in the mountains of Karamoja, cattle rustling and family feuds are rife. A resurgence in the past few years of tribal conflict, which Ugandan government forces had thought quashed after a controversial disarmament campaign more than a decade ago, is being led by young, jobless men with knives and guns.

Known as “warriors”, they fight over dwindling resources as spells of drought hit this already arid region, where malnutrition rates are high and few children go to school.