KAMPALA, March 30 (AFP) - A leading human rights watchdog on Thursday said a US-backed shift in Uganda's anti-AIDS program is jeopardizing the country's once successful efforts in combatting the deadly disease.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Washington's demand for Ugandan educators to focus on abstinence and not condom use as the way to prevent HIV infections denies youngsters in the east African nation information vital to their health.
"These abstinence-only programs leave Uganda's children at risk of HIV," said Jonathan Cohen, a co-author of the group's 80-page report entitled, "The Less They Know, the Better: Abstinence-Only HIV/AIDS Programs in Uganda."
Cohen urged Uganda to return to its successful "ABC" program -- "Abstinence, Be faithful, use Condoms" -- and fight efforts supported by US President George W. Bush's administration to eliminate the "C" from the equation.
ABC is credited with helping Uganda reduce HIV prevelance from as high as 30 percent in the 1990s to about six percent today, but Human Rights Watch said under a US-backed "AB" scheme, the gains could be lost.
It said a draft "AB strategy" released in November by the Uganda AIDS Commission advises teachers and health workers not to provide youth with information about condoms with abstinence education as it can be confusing.
Human Rights Watch said it had been told by Ugandan teachers that "they have been instructed by US contractors not to discuss condoms in school because the new policy is 'abstinence only'."
"Uganda is gradually removing condoms from its HIV/AIDS strategy and the consequences could be fatal," said Tony Tate, another co-author of the study.
"Delaying sex is surely a healthy choice for young Ugandans but youth have a right to know that there are other effective means of HIV prevention," he said.
In addition to the United States, Human Rights Watch placed blame for the shift on President Yoweri Museveni and his family, especially his wife, Janet, for enthusiastically championing the "abstinence-only" message.
It said the first lady had publicly called for a national "virgin census" to support her agenda which it said is backed by a conservative US-based organization called the Children's AIDS Fund.
But Ugandan officials described the report as a compilation of unfounded allegations and maintained there had been no changes to the country's policy on HIV/AIDS prevention.
"The government policy remains ABC, which is multiple approach to the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS," said senior health ministry official, Dr Alex Opio, told AFP.
"The policy remains tailored on abstinence for those who are yet to be married and for those married to be faithful to their partners and those who indulge in sex with people who are not their regular partners to use a condom," he said.
Opio, the assistant commissioner for Uganda's Center for National Disease Control added that the government could not prescribe that one method was better than the others but that they all reinforced each other.
He also denied that the Ugandan government was discouraging the use of condoms, noting that it has been a leading importer of the latex prophylactics in recent years.
"Out of a hundred and twenty million condoms used in the country each year, eighty million are imported by government," he said.
050330
AF050369
Copyright ©AFP 2005. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics. http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Bridgestone Firestone Trust Fund, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2005. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2005 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
