Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Reuters (12.20.03) - Monday, December 22, 2003
Paul Busharizi
"The youth are the most vulnerable and we have to keep renewing the message to keep their attention and more importantly harness peer influence to help in the war," said Health Minister Jim Muhwezi.
Ugandan primary schools now have a mandatory assembly every two weeks where children talk about HIV/AIDS, how it is spread, respect between girls and boys and why not to indulge in heavy petting. Muhwezi said parents initially resisted the idea of teaching youngsters about sex and AIDS, but changed their minds when they realized that teaching prevention necessarily involves sex education.
The Uganda AIDS Commission says there are 2 million AIDS orphans in the country. Figures show 1,050,555 people with HIV. Once an epicenter of HIV/AIDS, Uganda has seen prevalence rates drop from 30 percent in the 1980s to 6 percent of its 26.5 million people. Even as neighboring countries, like Kenya, are beginning to confront HIV/AIDS directly, they are far behind Uganda, which has made progress in fighting stigma and in bringing formerly taboo subjects into the public arena.
"This new initiative is something we can learn from," said Randall Tobias, coordinator for the US Global Fund on AIDS and a member of a US delegation, led by Health Secretary Tommy Thompson, that recently toured Africa.
Muhwezi said Uganda would try anything in its bid to beat HIV/AIDS. "There is no choice: we win or we die," he said.
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