Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 5, 2001
AIDS-related illnesses like tuberculosis, pneumonia and certain types of meningitis were on the rise, and were the fourth leading cause of death among children, he said. Uganda also has 1.4 million children who had lost one or both parents to the disease, Apuuli added. The latest statistics available from UNAIDS [http://www.unaids.org/] estimated that 1.7 million children had lost their mother or both parents to AIDS (while they were younger than 15) from the start of the epidemic to the end of 1999.
In spite of Uganda's achievement in having reduced the incidence of AIDS from 30 percent at its worst to a current rate of 6.1 percent, the death toll was still very high and there was no room for complacency, Apuuli said on Wednesday. The AIDS Commission was now working on a communication strategy to capture over 6.8 million children in school as a result of the country's Universal Primary Education campaign, he said. "We have to capture this group because it provides a window of opportunity for the future. Let us sensitise these children because they are still relatively safe from HIV/AIDS," he added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health this week called on business and civil society partners to join its campaign to 'Roll Back Malaria'. "It is very important that partners, especially from the private sector, come in to assist the government," said Richard Muhinda, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health. He said there had been a big improvement since donor agencies and the private sector joined the battle against malaria. Peter Langi, manager of the National Malaria Control Programme, specifically linked its efforts with the need for poverty eradication. "Malaria and poverty are killing children and their parents; due to poverty, people cannot treat the disease," he said.
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