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A new US-financed survey found HIV
increasing in Uganda during roughly the same period the country received more
US aid to fight the disease. The HIV infection rate there has grown from 6.4
percent in 2005 to 7.3 percent today, despite an influx of $1.7 billion from
the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
HIV/AIDS rates are increasing both
in urban and rural areas, and the infected are frequently husbands or wives,
the Uganda AIDS Indicator Survey shows. HIV prevalence increases with wealth,
rather than decreases, for both men and women.
“Something is not connecting
properly,” said Dr. Musa Bungudu, the UNAIDS chief in Uganda. “There are a lot
of sociocultural issues that need to be addressed. These are harsh realities.”
Successful HIV programs, including
grass-roots efforts aimed at reducing Ugandans’ numbers of sex partners, had
helped cut infection rates in the 1990s. In 2003, PEPFAR partnered with
faith-based groups and emphasized the “ABC” approach: Abstinence, Being
faithful (monogamy), and using Condoms “for those most at risk.”
Survey findings, based on detailed
reports from more than 20,000 Ugandans across the country, include:
*90 percent know fidelity in
marriage is important for health, but about 25 percent of married men have
multiple sex partners.
*75 percent are knowledgeable about
condom use, but fewer than 8 percent of married men with outside partners use
condoms.
“If you have an environment that
stigmatizes them, then don’t expect people to use condoms,” said Canon Gideon
Byamugisha, a religious leader and AIDS activist.
Uganda also takes a hard line
against homosexuality, which is illegal there. In one report, one-third of
Ugandan men who have sex with men said they had married and fathered children;
less than half used condoms.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
