Uganda to Hold a National HIV/AIDS Symposium in November

UAC Director General Dr. Nelson Musoba

 

The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) is organizing a National HIV and AIDS symposium with a goal of Ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

The Symposium will take place at Makerere University Business School play ground from 8^th to 10^th November 2022 under the theme, “Ending Inequalities among adolescent girls, young women and boys.’’

According to the UAC Director General Dr. Nelson Musoba, the commission has made progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

“As a country, recently released data shows a reduction in HIV prevalence from 18% in the 80’s to 5.5%,” Dr. Musoba stated.

Dr. Musoba said that there has been a reduction in AIDS related deaths from 22,000 in 2020 to 17,000 deaths in 2021.

“Stigma and Discrimination has also reduced greatly however, there is still work to be done,” Dr. Musoba acknowledged.

According to the people living with HIV stigma index study - 2019, 36.4% reported that it was difficult to disclose HIV status to other people. 32% revealed that they hid their HIV status from others and 68.8% of women living with HIV disclosed to their children other than to other family members.

The most persistent form of stigma was awareness of family and non-family members who made discriminatory remarks and gossiped about the PLHIV at 34% according to the report.

According to Jotham Mubangizi, the UNAIDS Uganda Strategic Information Advisor, there is an increasing number of new HIV Infections among young people specifically Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW).

“Last year, 54,000 people got infected with HIV, of these 15,000 were adolescent girls and young women (15-24) and 5000 infections were from their male counterparts of the same age group,” Mubangizi noted.

He added that the root cause of most of these infections is inequalities at different levels.

The CEO Vision group, Don Wanyama expressed his pleasure to partner with the commission to ensure that AIDS is ended by 2030.

“As Vision Group, we are happy to partner with Uganda AIDS Commission to ensure we contribute to the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 by disseminating accurate information about HIV prevention through our different platforms,” said Wanyama.

The National HIV and AIDS symposium this year will feature a series of activities namely: The Annual Joint AIDS Review, Scientific Conference, Philly Lutaaya Lecture, Partnership Forum, HIV Financing Dialogue and Exhibitions.