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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The New Vision (Uganda) - August 31, 2001
Charles Wendo
A surveillance report just released by the Ministry of Health indicates that the decline was sharper in the urban areas, where the average rate went down from 10.9% to 8.7%.
In the rural areas, the 1999 prevalence was 4.3% while the new rate is 4.2% but experts say there is no significant difference between the two figures. The tests are conducted at the antenatal clinics in 15 hospitals around the country. Each tests 250 - 600 blood samples monthly.
The report said the highest HIV prevalence ever reported in any of the sites was 30.2% in Mbarara in 1992 but it has fallen to 10.0%.
The Director General of the Uganda AIDS Commission, Dr. David Kihumuro-Apuuli, said the decline observed among pregnant women reflects the general trend of HIV/AIDS in the country.
President Yoweri Museveni last month hinted at the decline but said the report had not yet been released. However, Major Rubaramira Ruranga, an AIDS activist, immediately doubted the figures.
Kihumuro-Apuuli yesterday said, "There are doubting thomases in this country as to whether the President was telling the truth. These figures are scientific." He was speaking at the launch of a project in which the Government and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative will test AIDS vaccines.
Dr. Pontiano Kaleebu of the Uganda Virus Research Institute will be the lead scientist.
Assistant commissioner for national disease control Dr. Alex Opio said the ministry had printed 10,000 copies of the report for distribution.
He said the HIV infection rates among pregnant women had been declining since 1996. He said a separate survey conducted at Kyamulibwa in Masaka district by the Medical Research Council of Britain and Ugandan experts, also showed a reduction of new HIV cases annually.
Kihumuro-Apuuli said another recent report of the joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS said the number of people who die of AIDS in Uganda annually had fallen by 20% between 1999 and 2000.
Meanwhile, the Government and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative yesterday launched a partnership to conduct vaccine trials.
The ceremony, presided over by health state minister Mike Mukula at the Kampala Conference Centre, was preceded by the signing of an agreement at the ministry. Mukula said Uganda should be seen as a partner and not as a mere site for testing vaccines. He cautioned the scientists to observe ethical standards and said Ugandans should continue to avoid infection since there is no vaccine yet.
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