End lead paint use in Uganda to protect children’s future

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OPINION

By Peter Akugizibwe Araali

As the world marks International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week from 19–25 October 2025 under the theme “No Safe Level: Act Now to End Lead Exposure”, Uganda faces a harsh truth. While the global community is coming together to end all lead exposure, toxic paints continue to coat the walls of our homes, schools, and playgrounds, silently putting children’s health at risk.

Globally, lead is gaining growing attention in health, environmental, and research forums. In May 2025, member countries at the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution reaffirming their commitment to eliminating lead exposure. The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (GAELP), which unites more than 100 partners worldwide, is helping governments pass regulations, raise awareness, and protect children and workers. Uganda’s children deserve the same protection.

Here at home, the threat is all too real. A 2017 study of solvent-based paints sold in Kampala found that 67 per cent exceeded the internationally recognised safe limit of 90 parts per million. Alarmingly, 64 per cent of brands contained more than 10,000 ppm, with some tins reaching 150,000 ppm. Yet one-third of paints tested were already below 90 ppm, proving that safe alternatives exist in Uganda. The danger we face is a choice and not a necessity.

The effects on children are permanent. Young children absorb up to five times more lead than adults. Even low doses harm brain development, lowering intelligence, slowing learning, and causing behavioural problems. Lead exposure can also cause stunted growth, kidney damage, and hearing loss.

Real stories make the risk personal. In one reported case, a two-year-old was hospitalised with severe abdominal pain traced to flaking wall paint at home. Many families remain unaware that old paint, dust, and contaminated soil are slowly harming their children. The threat is invisible, silent, and widespread.

Uganda lags behind neighbouring countries. Kenya enforces a strict 90 ppm limit, and the East African Community is moving towards harmonised standards. Yet it is still legal to sell leaded paint in Uganda. NEMA must step up to protect Ugandans from this danger. As the authority tasked with regulating and supervising environmental standards, it is within NEMA’s power to monitor toxic substances, enforce safe manufacturing practices, and prevent hazardous paints from reaching homes, schools, and playgrounds. Without decisive action from NEMA, children and communities will continue to face silent but serious health risks. Immediate intervention is not just necessary, it is urgent.

Imagine if every home were treated as it should be. Every wall could be safe. Every classroom, playground, and clinic could be a place of protection rather than harm. Ending the use of lead paint in Uganda is not a slogan. It is a demand, a moral obligation, and a public health necessity.

The benefits extend beyond health. Children learn better, families save on medical costs, and communities grow stronger when homes are lead-free. Manufacturers who switch to lead-free production demonstrate integrity, and a government that enforces a ban shows that it values children over profit.

Action is simple. Parents should assume that old or cheap paints may contain lead, avoid sanding or burning old surfaces, clean floors and toys with wet methods, and repaint with certified lead-free products. Manufacturers must stop producing toxic paints. Regulators must adopt and enforce a mandatory limit for lead in all decorative paints.

Uganda has already succeeded once before in protecting children’s health by removing lead from petrol. We can do it again. The science is clear, the alternatives exist, and the human cost of inaction is far too high.

If we want bright futures for our children, we must make every home lead-free. Let us ensure that the walls meant to protect our families do not harm them. Let us act now, decisively, to guarantee healthy brains, thriving learners, and a nation that values its next generation above all.

The writer is Executive Director, Western Media for Environment and Conservation (WEMECO)