| Uganda’s Relentless Fight Against HIV/AIDS |
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More approaches are now being employed by the stakeholders which includes the government, private for profit or self-employed medics including midwives and traditional birth attendants; and, NGO or philanthropic medical service providers. Working under the ABC strategy: encouraging abstinence until marriage, advising the sexually active to adopt faithfulness and condom use, especially to those who have more than one partner, Uganda’s tremendous progress is clear and it stands out as one of the rare success stories in the African continent in the fight against the scourge. With rallies on HIV being held on a regular basis and people being encouraged to visit voluntary counseling and testing centers (VCT), the Ugandan government is keen to provide the relevant information including condom use, with over 100 million condoms imported into the country annually. In providing the condoms and in order to avoid consumers being stigmatized, coin-operated condom dispensing machines have been fitted in various social and public places commonly frequented by revelers. These facilities can be found in and around the Capital, Kampala, while other sophisticated measures are being taken to provide similar services to rural places and other areas. However the conservative nature of some Ugandan customs has limited the use of condoms, especially in the suburbs. This has prompted the government and other stakeholders to over-emphasize on abstinence at the expense of condom use, a thesis that has led to reports suggesting that HIV infection rate in the country is on the rise. Research shows that HIV/AIDS prevalence is higher among females than males and more in urban than rural areas of the country. The Pearl of African nation was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to open a voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) clinic called AIDS Information Centre and pioneered the concept of voluntary HIV testing centers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Adult HIV prevalence level fell from around 15% in the early 1990s to around 5% in 2001. There is no doubt that there has been sustained, long-term commitment within the spheres of Ugandan health sector with the primary aim of reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, challenges still abound. Some streets, especially in the Capital, are known to be dotted with prostitutes at night willing to sell their bodies for a few Ugandan shillings, while cemeteries across the country continue to be marked with freshly laid graves of men, women and children whose lives have been cut short by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, things are still looking up. Uganda has an anti-retroviral drug manufacturing plant, the only one of its kind in Africa that produces 100 million tablets of ARV’S, mainly the Duovir-n brand every month. The plant was established at a cost of about 100 billion Uganda shillings in a joint venture with Indian drug maker Cipla in 2009.  |
