By Joseph Kariuki
HIV prevalence rates are stagnating or even edging up slightly and health officials are taking a new look at controlling the scourge.
Advocates point to Cuba, where a combination of universal testing and aggressive early treatment has brought prevalence down to 0.1%, compared to 6.4% in Uganda.
But sceptics warn that such a policy could backfire unless carefully designed. The interest in universal testing comes at a time when HIV/AIDS continues to take a heavy toll on Uganda, 26 years after the virus was first confirmed in the country.
Every day, over 6,800 persons become infected and over 5,700 die from the disease, mostly due to inadequate access to HIV prevention and treatment services.
The HIV pandemic remains the most serious infectious disease challenge to public health says the 2007 UNAIDS/WHO report. Recent figures show HIV prevalence rate has increased by 0.2%, from 6.2% to 6.4% in Uganda, the country which hit world headlines in the 1990s as the first country to contain the HIV pandemic.
Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye, the HIV/AIDS parliamentary committee chairman says: “There is need to increase HIV testing if Uganda is to reduce the HIV prevalence rate. Tumwesigye was speaking during the AIDS Information Centre (AIC’s) annual meeting in Kampala recently.
He said the number of people who are testing for HIV has drastically reduced over the years. “Last year, one million people were tested, but 1.2 million babies were born. The actual progress is zero,” Tumwesigye said.
He said 27,000 babies are born with the virus and that 80% of the people who carry the virus do not know that they are infected and by the time they find out, it is too late. Tumwesigye, who is also the Member of Parliament for Sheema County, criticised AIC for turning its attention away from testing and counselling to emphasising care and support for the infected.
Speaking at the same function, the AIC executive director, Ronald Byaruhanga, said the organisation was looking for ways of providing ARVs and care for infected people. Tumwesigye, however, urged AIC to stick to its core stab of testing and counselling, which he said was more critical.
“We have relaxed on our prevention campaigns and we need to go back to that,” he said Byaruhanga, who also advocates mass testing, suggested that people should be allowed to test in the confines of their rooms.
“The essence of HIV testing is to know your status. If people can be allowed to access test kits and carry out their own tests, then the services will reach more people,” he said. Tumwesigye cited Bushenyi district, where door-to-door testing radically reduced the HIV prevalence in early 2000 from 8% to 3.1% in three years.
He said Parliament would work closely with AIC to ensure that the country moves towards an HIV-free generation through early diagnosis and treatment. Citing Cuba, where universal testing was done successfully, Tumwesigye said Uganda should borrow a leaf from the country to defeat the virus.
In its article, Cuba fights AIDS Its Own Way, by Anne Christine d’Adesky, the American Foundation for AIDS Research states that from 1986 to 1993, Cuba set up sanatoriums (hospitals) for HIV-positive people.
This much criticised quarantine kept people with HIV away from the general public. The quarantine ended in 1993, but Cuba retains an aggressive public health approach to controlling HIV, d’Adesky writes. Cuban HIV prevalence is now under 0.1% in adults between 15 and 49 years old — one of the lowest incidences in the world.
Most organisations involved in HIV testing are skeptical about the mass testing policy. Alice Anukur, Uganda Red Cross secretary-general says: “Unlike other diseases, HIV needs a lot of sensitisation and this may make the testing policy ineffective.” Dr. Victor Musiime, the head of paediatrics at the Joint Clinical Research Centre, says people should be allowed to make their own decisions on the matter.
“When you force people to do something, they tend to rebel and this may make the gain in the fight evaporate,” said Musiime while speaking during a massive HIV testing drive at Kisenyi, a slum in Kampala.
The WHO believes increased access to HIV testing and counselling is essential in promoting early diagnosis of HIV infection, which in turn can maximise the potential benefits of life-extending treatment and care. It would also allow people with HIV to receive information and tools to prevent HIV transmission to others. In its 2007 revised policy on HIV testing and counselling, WHO bars mandatory or coercive testing through one of its recommendations that warn:
“Provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling is not, and should not be construed as an endorsement of coercive or mandatory HIV testing.” This recommendation effectively limits the proponents of universal HIV testing from approaching HIV testing head on — the Cuban style.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Tuesday May 27th 2008
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Uganda: AIDS service charity wins global award
By Josephine Maseruka
MAMA’S Club, a Ugandan community-based organisation helping people living with HIV/AIDS, has emerged one of the best 25 groups of the Red Ribbon for 2008.
The Red Ribbon is a symbol of readiness to fight the pandemic. As a result, Dr. Lydia Mungherera, an activist who founded Mama’s Club in 2003, will be one of the civil society speakers during a special session of the UN General Assembly on HIV/AIDS in New York.
“It is a great honour for us to be one of the winners of this award,” she said.” Mama’s Club and each of the 25 other winners were given $5,000 (about sh8.3m). The award will be officially announced at the general assembly on June 11.
Two representatives from the club, a male and female, have also been invited to the International AIDS Conference in Mexico to run from August 1 to 9. They will present the grassroots nature of the club’s work.
The club, basesd at The Aids Support Organisation in Mulago, Kampala was launched on March 8, 2004. It aims at providing healthcare for HIV/AIDS- positive mothers and their children.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Thursday 29th May 2008
MAMA’S Club, a Ugandan community-based organisation helping people living with HIV/AIDS, has emerged one of the best 25 groups of the Red Ribbon for 2008.
The Red Ribbon is a symbol of readiness to fight the pandemic. As a result, Dr. Lydia Mungherera, an activist who founded Mama’s Club in 2003, will be one of the civil society speakers during a special session of the UN General Assembly on HIV/AIDS in New York.
“It is a great honour for us to be one of the winners of this award,” she said.” Mama’s Club and each of the 25 other winners were given $5,000 (about sh8.3m). The award will be officially announced at the general assembly on June 11.
Two representatives from the club, a male and female, have also been invited to the International AIDS Conference in Mexico to run from August 1 to 9. They will present the grassroots nature of the club’s work.
The club, basesd at The Aids Support Organisation in Mulago, Kampala was launched on March 8, 2004. It aims at providing healthcare for HIV/AIDS- positive mothers and their children.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Thursday 29th May 2008
Uganda: Activists blame AIDS spread on rights abuses
By Fred Ouma and Raymond Baguma
VIOLATING the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS is a major factor fuelling the spread of the disease in Uganda, activists have said.
They noted that efforts should be made to address stigma and discrimination against people living positively to control more infections. The activists also condemned the lack of and/or disproportionate access to legal services by people living with HIV/AIDS.
This is contained in a report focusing on the pandemic in relation to human rights and legal services in Uganda, which was released yesterday. The nationwide study done by the Open Society Initiative for East Africa, was the first to link human rights to the spread of the disease.
The initiative is a Nairobi-based organisation promoting good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the region.
The programme officer, Anne Gathumbi, who presented the findings at the Kampala Serena Hotel, said Uganda had improved HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and treatment but done little to protect the rights of the affected. “People living with the disease are denied employment based on their sero-status, women are denied property after the death of their husbands and orphans drop out of school or are disregarded by their relatives.”
The report documents common abuses faced by people living with HIV/AIDS or those at risk, including barriers to education, discrimination in accessing medical care, violations of the right to medical privacy and forced testing.
Beatrice Were, an award- winning HIV/AIDS activist, said the Government had abandoned its role to defend human rights, leaving it to civil society organisations which often lack sufficient resources and expertise.
“As a global leader in HIV prevention and treatment, Uganda must set a better example on HIV and human rights,” stated Binaifer Nowrojee, the director of the initiative. “You can’t effectively respond to the AIDS crisis without protecting the rights of the most marginalised people.”
The report recommends the enforcement of laws to protect against stigma and discrimination. It calls for support to community-based groups that offer legal aid to enable people living with HIV access justice. It added that Local Council courts were not being utilised to address HIV-related rights abuses.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Thursday 29th May 2008
VIOLATING the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS is a major factor fuelling the spread of the disease in Uganda, activists have said.
They noted that efforts should be made to address stigma and discrimination against people living positively to control more infections. The activists also condemned the lack of and/or disproportionate access to legal services by people living with HIV/AIDS.
This is contained in a report focusing on the pandemic in relation to human rights and legal services in Uganda, which was released yesterday. The nationwide study done by the Open Society Initiative for East Africa, was the first to link human rights to the spread of the disease.
The initiative is a Nairobi-based organisation promoting good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the region.
The programme officer, Anne Gathumbi, who presented the findings at the Kampala Serena Hotel, said Uganda had improved HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and treatment but done little to protect the rights of the affected. “People living with the disease are denied employment based on their sero-status, women are denied property after the death of their husbands and orphans drop out of school or are disregarded by their relatives.”
The report documents common abuses faced by people living with HIV/AIDS or those at risk, including barriers to education, discrimination in accessing medical care, violations of the right to medical privacy and forced testing.
Beatrice Were, an award- winning HIV/AIDS activist, said the Government had abandoned its role to defend human rights, leaving it to civil society organisations which often lack sufficient resources and expertise.
“As a global leader in HIV prevention and treatment, Uganda must set a better example on HIV and human rights,” stated Binaifer Nowrojee, the director of the initiative. “You can’t effectively respond to the AIDS crisis without protecting the rights of the most marginalised people.”
The report recommends the enforcement of laws to protect against stigma and discrimination. It calls for support to community-based groups that offer legal aid to enable people living with HIV access justice. It added that Local Council courts were not being utilised to address HIV-related rights abuses.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Thursday 29th May 2008
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Uganda 3rd best for mothers
By Raymond Baguma
UGANDA is the third best country to live in as a mother among 34 least developed countries, according to the 9th annual State of the World Mothers’ report.
The report, released by international children’s charity, Save the Children ahead of International Mother’s Day yesterday, also compares the welfare of mothers and children in 146 countries.
Maldives, a small Indian Ocean island state, led the pack, while the worst place for mothers was Niger, according to the report. The ranking was based on performance of the sampled countries against a set of indicators that measures a mother’s wellbeing in terms of health, education, child welfare and political and economic status.
A statement issued on Saturday by Save the Children in Uganda, said Uganda performed best on education and the economic and political status of mothers compared to other countries.
However, the mother’s health status, just like in other least developed countries, remained poor. Only 42% of mothers are cared for by a skilled health worker and a woman’s chance of death during childbirth were high at 1 in 25, compared to 1 in 17,400 in Sweden which performed best overall, the report showed.
The study also focused on how well the countries give children basic health care. This care in the report is defined by low-cost life saving interventions such as care during pregnancy, childbirth, immunisation, treatment of diarrhoea and chest infections. “Using existing, low-cost tools and knowledge, we could save more than 6 out of 10 children who die every year from easily preventable or treatable causes,” reads the report.
Save the Children country director Helene Andersson, called for health care programs to target the poorest and most marginalised mothers and children.
This article was published in The New Vision on Monday 12th May 2008
UGANDA is the third best country to live in as a mother among 34 least developed countries, according to the 9th annual State of the World Mothers’ report.
The report, released by international children’s charity, Save the Children ahead of International Mother’s Day yesterday, also compares the welfare of mothers and children in 146 countries.
Maldives, a small Indian Ocean island state, led the pack, while the worst place for mothers was Niger, according to the report. The ranking was based on performance of the sampled countries against a set of indicators that measures a mother’s wellbeing in terms of health, education, child welfare and political and economic status.
A statement issued on Saturday by Save the Children in Uganda, said Uganda performed best on education and the economic and political status of mothers compared to other countries.
However, the mother’s health status, just like in other least developed countries, remained poor. Only 42% of mothers are cared for by a skilled health worker and a woman’s chance of death during childbirth were high at 1 in 25, compared to 1 in 17,400 in Sweden which performed best overall, the report showed.
The study also focused on how well the countries give children basic health care. This care in the report is defined by low-cost life saving interventions such as care during pregnancy, childbirth, immunisation, treatment of diarrhoea and chest infections. “Using existing, low-cost tools and knowledge, we could save more than 6 out of 10 children who die every year from easily preventable or treatable causes,” reads the report.
Save the Children country director Helene Andersson, called for health care programs to target the poorest and most marginalised mothers and children.
This article was published in The New Vision on Monday 12th May 2008
Uganda to harmonise messages on HIV/AIDS
By Raymond Baguma
THE Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) has drafted a national strategy to streamline the communication of HIV/AIDS messages to the public.
The director general, Dr. Kihumuro-Apuuli, said: “Not all stakeholders in HIV/AIDS give the same message. Other people think that ARVs are a cure for HIV. Others think that circumcision prevents HIV, while others are opposed to condoms. We will analyse the type of messages delivered. These messages must be clear,” Kihumuro said.
He was speaking during the national stakeholders meeting for the Young, Empowered and Healthy (YEAH) initiative at Kabira Country Club in Kampala. Kihumuro also said the fight against HIV/AIDS had concentrated on the youth, forgetting the old people.
He said this had caused the resurgence of HIV cases in the older generation. YEAH was launched in 2004 by the AIDS commission. It designs and carries out campaigns on behavioural change for people between 15 and 24 years in order to reduce the HIV prevalence, early pregnancy and dropout rate in schools.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Wednesday 21st May 2008
THE Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) has drafted a national strategy to streamline the communication of HIV/AIDS messages to the public.
The director general, Dr. Kihumuro-Apuuli, said: “Not all stakeholders in HIV/AIDS give the same message. Other people think that ARVs are a cure for HIV. Others think that circumcision prevents HIV, while others are opposed to condoms. We will analyse the type of messages delivered. These messages must be clear,” Kihumuro said.
He was speaking during the national stakeholders meeting for the Young, Empowered and Healthy (YEAH) initiative at Kabira Country Club in Kampala. Kihumuro also said the fight against HIV/AIDS had concentrated on the youth, forgetting the old people.
He said this had caused the resurgence of HIV cases in the older generation. YEAH was launched in 2004 by the AIDS commission. It designs and carries out campaigns on behavioural change for people between 15 and 24 years in order to reduce the HIV prevalence, early pregnancy and dropout rate in schools.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Wednesday 21st May 2008
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Uganda: 'Africa's Aids Disaster Could Have Been Avoided'
By Anthony Bugembe, Raymond Baguma and Esther Kyabaki
PROF. Peter Mugyenyi, the executive director of the Joint Clinical Research Centre, has attacked pharmaceutical companies in the west for deliberately causing the death of Africans living with HIV/AIDS. According to Mugyenyi, western countries deliberately delay to provide life-saving anti-retroviral drugs at an affordable price.
His remarks are in his new book titled Genocide by Denial: How Profiteering from HIV/AIDS killed millions. The 300-page book, published by Fountain Publishers, was launched on Wednesday by the Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, at the Speke Resort Munyonyo during the 5th annual national HIV/AIDS conference.
Mugyenyi is one of the people at the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. In Uganda, AIDS was first reported in Kasensero, Rakai district in 1982. Since then, over 1.6m Ugandans have lost their lives, while about 6% of the population is living with the scourge. Mugyenyi said: “I wrote the book to show the world that what happened in Africa could have been prevented.”
This article was published in The New Vision Uganda on Monday March 31, 2008
PROF. Peter Mugyenyi, the executive director of the Joint Clinical Research Centre, has attacked pharmaceutical companies in the west for deliberately causing the death of Africans living with HIV/AIDS. According to Mugyenyi, western countries deliberately delay to provide life-saving anti-retroviral drugs at an affordable price.
His remarks are in his new book titled Genocide by Denial: How Profiteering from HIV/AIDS killed millions. The 300-page book, published by Fountain Publishers, was launched on Wednesday by the Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, at the Speke Resort Munyonyo during the 5th annual national HIV/AIDS conference.
Mugyenyi is one of the people at the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. In Uganda, AIDS was first reported in Kasensero, Rakai district in 1982. Since then, over 1.6m Ugandans have lost their lives, while about 6% of the population is living with the scourge. Mugyenyi said: “I wrote the book to show the world that what happened in Africa could have been prevented.”
This article was published in The New Vision Uganda on Monday March 31, 2008
Uganda: Childbirth complications high
UGANDA is among the three countries in the world with the highest percentage of women suffering from uncontrolled leaking of urine and faeces due to childbirth complications. Raymond Baguma writes.
The commissioner for clinical services, Dr. Jacinto Amandua, said Uganda annually gets 3,500 new cases of women with the condition called obstetric fistula. He said figures issued by The Campaign to End Fistula, a global agency, showed that Guatemala and Benin were the other countries with high cases.
The 2006 demographic and health Survey found that one in every 40 women of reproductive age in Uganda has fistula. Amandua, who on Wednesday was launching research findings on the condition at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, said over two million people in sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and Arabia suffer from fistula.
In Uganda, over 8,462 cases have been recorded since 1990 and 4,877 women have received treatment, he added. The research was conducted by Women Dignity Project, a Tanzanian-based women’s NGO and another organisation, Engender Health, with support from USAID. Amandua observed that with only 45 doctors for fistula, Uganda needed to train more.
About 12 hospitals in Uganda are equipped to carry out fistula surgery, but the rate of treatment is slow, which has created a backlog of patients, he added. “There are few skilled local surgeons and there is delay in completion. It is difficult to interest health workers and policy makers in fistula activities unless support is increased,” Amandua said.
The rural areas, he pointed out, were the worst hit. Amandua said there was need to improve access to emergency maternal health services, equipping health centres, delay marriage and encourage child spacing. “Fistula is a human rights issue.
The Government must be committed and act to improve social services, especially maternity care.” Margot Ellis, the USAID mission director, said maternal health care was still limited in Uganda and many women do not know that obstetric fistula can be treated.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Thursday April 10, 2008
The commissioner for clinical services, Dr. Jacinto Amandua, said Uganda annually gets 3,500 new cases of women with the condition called obstetric fistula. He said figures issued by The Campaign to End Fistula, a global agency, showed that Guatemala and Benin were the other countries with high cases.
The 2006 demographic and health Survey found that one in every 40 women of reproductive age in Uganda has fistula. Amandua, who on Wednesday was launching research findings on the condition at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, said over two million people in sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and Arabia suffer from fistula.
In Uganda, over 8,462 cases have been recorded since 1990 and 4,877 women have received treatment, he added. The research was conducted by Women Dignity Project, a Tanzanian-based women’s NGO and another organisation, Engender Health, with support from USAID. Amandua observed that with only 45 doctors for fistula, Uganda needed to train more.
About 12 hospitals in Uganda are equipped to carry out fistula surgery, but the rate of treatment is slow, which has created a backlog of patients, he added. “There are few skilled local surgeons and there is delay in completion. It is difficult to interest health workers and policy makers in fistula activities unless support is increased,” Amandua said.
The rural areas, he pointed out, were the worst hit. Amandua said there was need to improve access to emergency maternal health services, equipping health centres, delay marriage and encourage child spacing. “Fistula is a human rights issue.
The Government must be committed and act to improve social services, especially maternity care.” Margot Ellis, the USAID mission director, said maternal health care was still limited in Uganda and many women do not know that obstetric fistula can be treated.
This article was published in The New Vision, Uganda on Thursday April 10, 2008
Uganda: High percentage of fistula
UGANDA is among the three countries in the world with the highest percentage of women suffering from uncontrolled leaking of urine and faeces due to childbirth complications. Raymond Baguma writes
The commissioner for clinical services, Dr. Jacinto Amandua, said Uganda annually gets 3,500 new cases of women with the condition called obstetric fistula. He said figures issued by The Campaign to End Fistula, a global agency, showed that Guatemala and Benin were the other countries with high cases.
The 2006 demographic and health Survey found that one in every 40 women of reproductive age in Uganda has fistula. Amandua, who on Wednesday was launching research findings on the condition at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, said over two million people in sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and Arabia suffer from fistula.
In Uganda, over 8,462 cases have been recorded since 1990 and 4,877 women have received treatment, he added. The research was conducted by Women Dignity Project, a Tanzanian-based women’s NGO and another organisation, Engender Health, with support from USAID.
Amandua observed that with only 45 doctors for fistula, Uganda needed to train more. About 12 hospitals in Uganda are equipped to carry out fistula surgery, but the rate of treatment is slow, which has created a backlog of patients, he added. “There are few skilled local surgeons and there is delay in completion.
It is difficult to interest health workers and policy makers in fistula activities unless support is increased,” Amandua said. The rural areas, he pointed out, were the worst hit. Amandua said there was need to improve access to emergency maternal health services, equipping health centres, delay marriage and encourage child spacing.
“Fistula is a human rights issue. The Government must be committed and act to improve social services, especially maternity care.” Margot Ellis, the USAID mission director, said maternal health care was still limited in Uganda and many women do not know that obstetric fistula can be treated.
The commissioner for clinical services, Dr. Jacinto Amandua, said Uganda annually gets 3,500 new cases of women with the condition called obstetric fistula. He said figures issued by The Campaign to End Fistula, a global agency, showed that Guatemala and Benin were the other countries with high cases.
The 2006 demographic and health Survey found that one in every 40 women of reproductive age in Uganda has fistula. Amandua, who on Wednesday was launching research findings on the condition at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, said over two million people in sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and Arabia suffer from fistula.
In Uganda, over 8,462 cases have been recorded since 1990 and 4,877 women have received treatment, he added. The research was conducted by Women Dignity Project, a Tanzanian-based women’s NGO and another organisation, Engender Health, with support from USAID.
Amandua observed that with only 45 doctors for fistula, Uganda needed to train more. About 12 hospitals in Uganda are equipped to carry out fistula surgery, but the rate of treatment is slow, which has created a backlog of patients, he added. “There are few skilled local surgeons and there is delay in completion.
It is difficult to interest health workers and policy makers in fistula activities unless support is increased,” Amandua said. The rural areas, he pointed out, were the worst hit. Amandua said there was need to improve access to emergency maternal health services, equipping health centres, delay marriage and encourage child spacing.
“Fistula is a human rights issue. The Government must be committed and act to improve social services, especially maternity care.” Margot Ellis, the USAID mission director, said maternal health care was still limited in Uganda and many women do not know that obstetric fistula can be treated.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Uganda: Raising an HIV Positive Generation
THE War-torn Gulu and Amuru districts have about 27,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and a prevalence rate of 8.2%. Of these, 12,000 are children, writes Raymond Baguma.
JANE Acana, (not real name) 17, was in primary school in 2003, when she tested positive to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. When Acan sat for P.7 in 2005, she thought continuing to secondary level was useless, since she was going to die anyway.
“But I decided against it when I realised there were many students who are sick and are in school.” “I was sickly when I was taken to Gulu Hospital. I told my guardian, who is my elder brother, about the results. But he just kept quiet. I had expected him to talk but he did not. Maybe he thought that I had been sleeping around,” she says.
Acana is a peer educator with Health Alert, a local NGO in Gulu, and in S.3 in a school in Gulu town. She says most HIV-positive students keep their sero-status a secret for fear of being stigmatised.
“For me at school, they do not know that I am living with HIV,” she adds. Francis Omony is the general secretary of the peer club. He is in S.5 at Koch Goma SS. He was bold enough to go public about his status. He does not mind his identity being disclosed since his sero-status is known, he says.
But going public was not easy for Omony, 17, who first learnt about his HIV status in 2004 when he was in S.1. “I was admitted to Lacor Hospital. I had a swelling on the neck and it was operated. They asked me to test me and I accepted. I was found positive. I did not eat for three days,” he recalls. “Many students might be having HIV but they do not come out. There is a lot of stigma in the schools and there is need to sensitise the community,” he adds.
He is also concerned that the youth in Gulu are engaging in casual sex, commonly referred to as “conning,” and thereby exposing themselves to HIV. The students also smoke during school functions. Oftentimes, they go in pairs. .
“One day, some students at my school stigmatised me and they were expelled. But I complained to the school administration about their dismissal, and they were recalled,” he says. Health Alert is funded by Save the Children in Uganda (SCiU) to support 1,116 young people living with HIV/AIDS, enabling them to receive HIV testing, ARV treatment and support.
The project also aims at reducing HIV prevalence in children in Gulu. Under the programme, the children have been trained to carry out peer education about HIV/AIDS, which they in turn pass on to fellow children and help to fight stigma.
Edmund Kertho, the SCiU HIV/AIDS programme coordinator, says the three -year-old project also provides Prevention of MOther-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services to HIV-positive expecting mothers as well as supplementary feeding to their new-born babies.
Francis Obutu, the Health Alert coordinator, says some HIV-positive students change schools as a result of the stigma, which affects their academic performance and creates a gap in follow-up on ARV treatment at schools.
Acana says: “Taking medicine at school is hard because of the stigma when other students see you swallowing the medicine.” There is also a challenge in adhering to the ARV regimen for the school-going children, who wake up early to go to school and at times forget taking their medication.
Obutu adds that the HIV prevalence among adolescents in Gulu district is on the increase because there are few organisations promoting behaviour change to the adolescents. Health Alert had initially planned to cater for 750 beneficiaries under the project but there is an increase in the number of children in need of ARVs.
The Gulu district education officer, the Rev. Vincent Ochen-Ocheng, says the education department has observed risky behaviour especially among students. He said it was worse among those residing in private hostels, who were not beingsupervised by matrons.
The department recommended that schools take over the running of the hostels. Cleopatra Apiro, an HIV-positive adolescent, says boys insist on having sex with her. “Even if you tell them you are positive, they insist. Others say ‘no matter what, I shall sleep with you.’”
While Health Alert provides counselling services to HIV-positive adolescents about the dangers of re-infection and transmitting HIV through unprotected sex, there are increasing numbers of pregnancies among older HIV-positive adolescents.
Florence Amito, a nurse with Health Alert, says: “There was a girl who told her healthy boyfriend that she had HIV. The boy did not believe and he insisted. She gave in. Later, when the boy realised that she was serious and found her taking ARVs, he was scared and has not gone for an HIV test. The boy is also in Senior Five. The other students do not believe.” Omony says although they wish the Government could provide special care to HIV-positive students, care should not include special diets, since this would set them apart from other students and cause stigmatisation.
This article was published in The New Vision newspaper, Uganda on Wednesday 16th April 2008
JANE Acana, (not real name) 17, was in primary school in 2003, when she tested positive to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. When Acan sat for P.7 in 2005, she thought continuing to secondary level was useless, since she was going to die anyway.
“But I decided against it when I realised there were many students who are sick and are in school.” “I was sickly when I was taken to Gulu Hospital. I told my guardian, who is my elder brother, about the results. But he just kept quiet. I had expected him to talk but he did not. Maybe he thought that I had been sleeping around,” she says.
Acana is a peer educator with Health Alert, a local NGO in Gulu, and in S.3 in a school in Gulu town. She says most HIV-positive students keep their sero-status a secret for fear of being stigmatised.
“For me at school, they do not know that I am living with HIV,” she adds. Francis Omony is the general secretary of the peer club. He is in S.5 at Koch Goma SS. He was bold enough to go public about his status. He does not mind his identity being disclosed since his sero-status is known, he says.
But going public was not easy for Omony, 17, who first learnt about his HIV status in 2004 when he was in S.1. “I was admitted to Lacor Hospital. I had a swelling on the neck and it was operated. They asked me to test me and I accepted. I was found positive. I did not eat for three days,” he recalls. “Many students might be having HIV but they do not come out. There is a lot of stigma in the schools and there is need to sensitise the community,” he adds.
He is also concerned that the youth in Gulu are engaging in casual sex, commonly referred to as “conning,” and thereby exposing themselves to HIV. The students also smoke during school functions. Oftentimes, they go in pairs. .
“One day, some students at my school stigmatised me and they were expelled. But I complained to the school administration about their dismissal, and they were recalled,” he says. Health Alert is funded by Save the Children in Uganda (SCiU) to support 1,116 young people living with HIV/AIDS, enabling them to receive HIV testing, ARV treatment and support.
The project also aims at reducing HIV prevalence in children in Gulu. Under the programme, the children have been trained to carry out peer education about HIV/AIDS, which they in turn pass on to fellow children and help to fight stigma.
Edmund Kertho, the SCiU HIV/AIDS programme coordinator, says the three -year-old project also provides Prevention of MOther-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services to HIV-positive expecting mothers as well as supplementary feeding to their new-born babies.
Francis Obutu, the Health Alert coordinator, says some HIV-positive students change schools as a result of the stigma, which affects their academic performance and creates a gap in follow-up on ARV treatment at schools.
Acana says: “Taking medicine at school is hard because of the stigma when other students see you swallowing the medicine.” There is also a challenge in adhering to the ARV regimen for the school-going children, who wake up early to go to school and at times forget taking their medication.
Obutu adds that the HIV prevalence among adolescents in Gulu district is on the increase because there are few organisations promoting behaviour change to the adolescents. Health Alert had initially planned to cater for 750 beneficiaries under the project but there is an increase in the number of children in need of ARVs.
The Gulu district education officer, the Rev. Vincent Ochen-Ocheng, says the education department has observed risky behaviour especially among students. He said it was worse among those residing in private hostels, who were not beingsupervised by matrons.
The department recommended that schools take over the running of the hostels. Cleopatra Apiro, an HIV-positive adolescent, says boys insist on having sex with her. “Even if you tell them you are positive, they insist. Others say ‘no matter what, I shall sleep with you.’”
While Health Alert provides counselling services to HIV-positive adolescents about the dangers of re-infection and transmitting HIV through unprotected sex, there are increasing numbers of pregnancies among older HIV-positive adolescents.
Florence Amito, a nurse with Health Alert, says: “There was a girl who told her healthy boyfriend that she had HIV. The boy did not believe and he insisted. She gave in. Later, when the boy realised that she was serious and found her taking ARVs, he was scared and has not gone for an HIV test. The boy is also in Senior Five. The other students do not believe.” Omony says although they wish the Government could provide special care to HIV-positive students, care should not include special diets, since this would set them apart from other students and cause stigmatisation.
This article was published in The New Vision newspaper, Uganda on Wednesday 16th April 2008
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