EDUCATION ministers of Commonwealth countries have agreed to speed up the attainment of Universal Primary Education. They also called for an end to gender disparities in schools. They pledged to strengthen the education sector s fight against HIV/AIDS. At the 16th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Cape
HEALTH REVIEW THE year 2006 saw an improvement in health across the nation. However, this was marred by the increase in HIV infection and the Global Fund scandal. Arthur Baguma looks into the highlights of what happened in the health sector The year 2006 saw the health sector marred by by controversies and
This is due to the negative perception they have following the ban of the Engabu brand last year. The Lutheran World Federation project coordinator in Lyantonde, David Ssedyabule, said though the Engabu brand was repackaged and re-introduced to the market, many men had not regained confidence in using condoms. He was r
The Minister of Health, Dr Stephen Mallinga , is a man who likes to lead by example. While opening the Parliamentary dialogue on the AIDS vaccine development at Kabira Country Club recently, Mallinga affirmed that he was ready to take an HIV/AIDS test and that he would invite everyone to witness. I do not mind if the r
The HIV rate of infection in most internally displaced peoples camps in Gulu and Amuru districts is on the increase, a recent survey done by the Diocese of Northern Uganda has revealed. The survey recorded that 280 children under five years and 375 adults, mostly women, were infected with HIV/AIDS. The report said
A fourteen-year-old girl from Lwala Secondary School, Kaberamido district, does not have a safe home after she consistently rejected and eventually frustrated her brother s efforts to marry her off to various men. In another incident, Katakwi Police intervened to reverse the marriage of a 14-year-old to a 17-year-old.
AS we approach the new year, HIV/AIDS patients have a reason to smile. The Mildmay Centre announced its plan to enroll 3000 new clients on Antiretroviral (ARV) therapy and treatment in 2007. Speaking after a Christmas carol service at the Mildmay premises in Lweza on Entebbe Road last Wednesday, the director clinical s
Face HIV with Dr. Watiti DEAR doctor, My mother is HIV positive but not yet on anti-retro viral treatment (ARVs). However, she recently found out that she has cancer. The doctor says that the dark nodules she has developed in her mouth are Kaposi s sarcoma. With cancer and HIV both of which are incurable, will my mothe
WEALTHY people are more prone to HIV infection than the poor. Poverty is not associated with infection rates in the way we originally thought. Often it is the wealthier people that have higher HIV infection rates, international and Uganda AIDS researchers noted at a symposium in Kampala last week. Researchers also
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has warned about statements that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV/AIDS. These days, there are many confusing messages. One of them is that if you are circumcised, you are less likely to catch AIDS even if you behave recklessly. Now what sort of message is that? the President asked. Six
THE US-based Infectious Disease Institute (IDI) has donated $0.5m (sh890m) to Makindye Division in Kampala to cater for people living with HIV/AIDS. Division chief Moses Kalungi said the IDI made the donation jointly with the Makerere University Medical School. He said the city council would work hand-in-hand with dono
Irish doctors, under Realta Foundation, have handed over a two-storey building to Mpigi Health Centre Clinic, which is run by the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC). The state minister for health, Richard Nduhura, commissioned the centre recently. He commended anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for improving people s liv
Dear doctor, I am a headmistress and among my students are a few who have HIV/AIDS. Recently, we lost one of them and I felt we had not done enough to support the child. What can we do to help our students who have HIV/AIDS? Mary K Dear Mary K, Thank you for this interesting question about how teachers can assist stude
AN American anti-AIDS activist has praised Uganda ’s ABC approach in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. ABC stands for Abstinence, Be faithful and use Condoms. Dr. Green Edward, a senior scholar at Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies, noted that Uganda’s success in the fight against the scourge
MEN are known to lead in many spheres of life, but when it comes to remaining faithful in marriage, many of them fail. According to statistics released last week, 60% of new HIV infections were among married people, driven by men engaging in extra marital sex without using condoms. The assessment of HIV prevention unde
GOAL Uganda , an international humanitarian organisation, has embarked on a campaign to encourage husbands to embrace the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS in Bugiri district. GOAL s deputy project manager, Moses Kamugisha said this year, they organised competitions where health centres in
DO you want to live dangerously? Use condoms. That was First Lady Janet Museveni s message to the youth, during a visit to Masulita Orphanage in Mukono District on Friday. The home was holding its Christmas celebration, as well as sending off grown-up orphans to resettlement homes. Mrs. Museveni implored the young peop
Kampala - It is a topic that men have traditionally been very happy to leave in a tightly locked box marked women s things . To men, the pill was something that happened to other people - a daily routine that someone else had to remember, with health consequences that were between our girlfriends/wives/lovers and their
Circumcision is not a magic bullet to shoot down HIV/AIDS, Kevin de Cock, head of the World Health Organisation s HIV/Aids department has warned. Circumcision only reduces the chances of infection. This caution comes in the wake of two major trials conducted in Kenya and Uganda , which have
THE UN children s agency, Unicef, has earmarked US$296m (about sh544b) for HIV/AIDS intervention in north and north-eastern Uganda . The funds will be released in 2007 if the Juba peace talks succeed and the internally displaced persons return to their homes. Unicef HIV/AIDS project officer Dr. Jackson Ojera told local
The health ministry has been criticised for abandoning the ABC (Abstain, Be faithful or use a Condom) strategy in fighting the HIV/AIDS scourge. The criticism was contained in President Yoweri Museveni s message at the opening of Kabwohe clinical research centre in Bushenyi. Museveni said health ministry officials were
THE prisons department is to get a machine to help in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. The Community Health and Information Network (CHAIN) is to buy the CD4 cells count machine worth $50,000 (about sh50m). The Commissioner-General of Prisons, Dr. Johnson Byabashaija, announced the offer recently during the second annual tre
Statistics released yesterday show that the number of HIV infections is projected to increase from 1.1 million to 1.8 million in 2012, if the rate of infection remains constant. HIV prevalence has remained stable between 6% and 7%. But about 132,000 new infections have been recorded from 2005 alone; including 27,000 ch
JOSEPHINE Namusisi is HIV positive. She had never imagined she would deliver a healthy child, free of HIV, till she visited Kangulumira Health Centre IV in Kayunga district. It has changed my life, I can live healthy. I don t fall sick, says Namusisi, a mother of one and beneficiary of Prevention of Mother-to-Child Tra
Dear Doctor, I understand that the rate at which young girls are getting infected is almost three times that of their male counterparts. As a leader of a group of young girls I would like to know why this is the case, so that I can use the knowledge to alert those I lead. Sarah Dear Sarah, I commend you for your concer
Every woman has the right to be free from violence and HIV/AIDS. However, when the man you are married to beats you up, what are the chances that you will be able to negotiate safe sex without earning another beating? By the way responsibilities and privileges are distributed in the home, many Ugandan girls are raised
HEIFER International has launched a $660,000 (sh1.22b) project for HIV/AIDS members under TASO, writes Dismus Buregyeya. The three-year project funded by Bother Ireland , will benefit 1,574 families registered with TASO branches in Masaka, Tororo and Mbale districts, the project country manager, Patrick Nalere, said.
Drama and music continued to have a therapeutic effect on those living with HIV/AIDS at the National Theatre during the annual TASO drama festival last Thursday. Unlike before, this was not a contest between the regional finalists. According to the show, performers drew their energies, not from the hope for monetary re
HIV/AIDS voluntary testing in Bushenyi has covered 21,000 people, of whom 4.7% were HIV-positive and 852 couples found to be discordant (where one partner is positive and the other negative). The disease is commonest among fishmongers, who accounted for 25% of the infected people so far tested. This was revealed in a s
THEY may be battle-hardened, but there is an enemy they should fear. Speaking at the Friday graduation of 41 senior army officers from the Senior Command and Staff College Kimaka, defence minister Dr. Crispus Kiyonga urged the soldiers to guard against HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is an enemy to the NRM revolution and the people
MAYBE we are losing it again! This fear dogged me throughout the World AIDS Day last week. God forbid that the hard-earned victory against HIV be overturned. Uganda rarely invents anything. We even had to wait for Speke to come and discover Lake Victoria for us. Then, maybe by chance, we come up with a lethal fighting
Kaleke Kasome is Maurice Muhasha s most popular song this year. The song, which is about difilement, appeals to parents and children alike. At the All Stars Struggle Against AIDS at Centenary Park recently, Maurice s performance left many women with teary eyes. He performed to an audience that had gathered for the laun
MEDICAL practitioners have warned that circumcision does not automatically prevent HIV infection. Dr. Stephen Watiti, the Mildmay Centre clinical manager and Dr. Haanah Kibuuka of the Makerere University Walter Reed Project, said this on Monday at a conference on strengthening HIV treatment literacy and care programme
CHILDREN living with HIV/AIDS in Gulu District have demanded that they be given ARV drugs which are about to expire at the National Medical Stores (NMS). This follows press reports that ARVs worth sh936m expired at NMS last month and that more drugs are expected to expire this month. NMS is charged with the responsibil
Dear Doctor, I have been on ARVs for the last three years and my health has improved since I started ART. However, recently when I went to collect my monthly supply of drugs, I was given generic ARVs made from India instead of the brand drugs made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
WATER and environment minister Maria Mutagamba on Friday launched a five-year sh16b AIDS strategic plan for Rakai district. This was at the celebrations to mark the World AIDS Day at Kyondo Primary School in Dwaniro sub-county. She urged residents to test for HIV. It is disappointing to learn that men do not want to go
CHILDREN living with HIV/AIDS in Gulu district have demanded to be given the ARV drugs which are about to expire at the National Medical Stores. Children should be protected against HIV/AIDS. HIV-positive children need treatment. Our politicians and district leaders should ensure that hospitals have ARV drugs that chil
THE Joint Clinical reasearch centre (JCRC) has been involved in three pioneering studies aimed at defining user-friendly, more cost-effective and less toxic ARVs drug regimens as part of multi-centre studies. Prominent of these studies was Development of Antiretroviral Therapy in Africa (DART) now providing ARVs to ove
UGANDA was the first country in Africa to carry out an HIV vaccine study. The Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC), together with partners at Mulago Hospital, Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe as well as other partners in Africa, was the first centre to carry out a research that describes the best HIV treatment
THE 2004 national household survey on adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviour has revealed that 16% of the girls between 12 and 14 years had their first sexual encounter with a relative. The survey, conducted by Uganda National Bureau of Statistics in conjunction with ORC Macro, Makerere Institue of Social Researc
HIV/AIDS has severely affected delivery of education in the country, the commissioner for secondary education said yesterday. Yusuf Nsubuga said AIDS has killed many teachers and students and created rampant absenteeism. He was launching a play entitled, Make a new start today , on the World AIDS Day at the Kampala Rug
CELTEL staff last week donated blood to Nakasero Blood Bank. The donation was part of the World AIDS Day celebrations. Yesse Oenga, the Celtel chief, said the company normally donates blood in June. This time round, we have decided to do it on World AIDS Day to show that we are part of the fight against AIDS, Oenga sa
THE government should expand HIV/AIDS programmes to the road construction sector, AIDS activists have said, write Kyomuhendo Muhanga and Martin Kiiza. This was at a workshop for the HIV/AIDS road sector campaign at Rwenzori International Hotel in Kasese. The 30-month project, whose first phase ended last week, was valu
SEVERAL Members of Parliament participated in voluntary testing at Parliament on Friday, to mark HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Awareness Week. Sarah Nyombi (Ntenjeru), Ruth Kavuma (Kalangala), Sauda Mugerwa (Masaka), Lubega Kaddunabbi (Butambala), Elioda Tumwesigye (Sheema North), Hanifa Kawooya (Sembamule) and Olive Wonek
THE First Lady, Janet Museveni has insisted that despite many voices attacking it, sexual abstinence is the only sure way of avoiding contracting HIV. Mrs. Museveni, who marked the World AIDS Day at the Uganda Christian University, Mukono on Friday said she would not be caught advising youth otherwise. I would not
First, this is for my adult colleagues: Hands up those who celebrate the anniversary of the day you lost your virginity! So, what is the problem? Letting go of your innocence is a new birth into a new life, so why would you announce and honour your birthday and when it comes to this great day, you refer us to the class
Youth infected with HIV in schools are subjected to stigmatisation and discrimination, which is aggravating their situation, international HIV/AIDS organisations have said. Health and development Network (HDN), an Irish organisation, and the AIDS-Care-Watch Campaign said Uganda had made great strides in the fight again
THE Government will give free antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to 120,000 people living with HIV by the end of next year. state minister for health in charge of general duties Dr. Richard Nduhura said this last week after opening a sh230m Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) HIV/AIDS clinic at Mpigi health centre. Current
AS Uganda joins the rest of the international community in marking World AIDS Day, focus should be on the report published earlier this year which indicates that HIV infection rates have risen from 6.2% to 7%. What is probably most alarming is the fact that infection is rising mostly among the married people, of all th
THE Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised sub-Saharan governments that emphasise abstinence-only approaches in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In a statement released to coincide with the World AIDS day today, the New York-based body singled out Uganda for promoting virginity parades , while the epidemic worsens. It
OXFAM International has called for an increase in the health budget to ensure universal access to drugs, including ARVs. In a statement yesterday, Oxfam GB representative Savio Carvallho said, The government must allocate the necessary funds (15% of the national budget) to ensure that public health systems are supporte
Iranian herbalist professor Allahgoli Elahi was on Tuesday charged with selling drugs he purports to cure HIV/AIDS. He was also charged with manufacturing and supplying drugs without authority from National Drug Authority (NDA). Elahi was also charged with carrying out such duties without being registered as a pharmaci
THE Uganda National Commission for UNESCO will today launch the Theatre HIV/AIDS toolkit for youth in Africa. The organisation s secretary general, Augustine Omare Okurut, told journalists on Monday that the toolkit is a combination of the French manual on theatre and UNESCO s tool kit titled HIV/AIDS and human rights
Raising the age of first sex is a key to preventing new HIV infections. When young people delay sex, they postpone the first time when they might be sexually exposed to HIV. In the 1980s and 1990s young Ugandans started sex later in response to the threat of HIV. This is one reason why HIV declined. Will Uganda be able
THE Roman Catholic Church has taken the first step towards shifting away from a total ban on using condoms. At the same time, President Museveni has expressed concern about the rising rate of HIV infection in Uganda . Museveni told the Joint Clinical Research Centre, which is marking 15 years, that the vigilance that h
WHEN James Ndalise tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, he was assured during the counselling sessions at Mulago Hospital that he could get medicine to enable him get an improved quality of life. He was advised to return after a week to get free Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARVs). That was relieving news to m
Dear Doctor, I have been on ARVs (Triomune) for about six months and my CD4, which was 60 cells, has risen to 250. I have generally improved and no longer feel sickly. However, I have one problem; before starting on ARVs, I had numbness and pains in my feet. I thought this would improve while on ARVs, but it has become
Uganda is among countries hit by a resurgence of HIV/AIDS infection rates which were previously stable or declining, according to the United Nations (UN). The UN noted that HIV infection is rising in every region of the world and most worryingly in countries like Uganda and Thailand
THE Police and National Drug Authority (NDA) officials on Friday raided Prof. Sheik Allagholi Elahi s residence and seized products which he claims cure HIV/AIDS. This is the second time Elahi was being arrested over the khomeini products, the first being in April when he was charged. The Friday raid in Naguru started
THE number of people living with HIV/AIDS in need of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has shot up. An estimated one million Ugandans are living with the virus that causes AIDS, according to the 2004/05 HIV/AIDS sero-behavioural report. Dr. Elizabeth Namagala, a senior medical officer coordinating ART activities at the hea
SEVENTY-EIGHT percent of people with disabilities (PWDs) have had sexual intercourse, a new study has revealed, dispelling the widespread assumption that they were sexually inactive. The study further shows that about 47% of PWDs had their first sexual encounter below the consent age of 18 years, with females significa
IF it were not for the quick action of the doctors from the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC), young Kiwanuka would not be alive today. At the time of admission at JCRC, Kiwanuka was suffering from several illnesses and as a result, his chest was severely affected. He had to be confined on an oxygen cylinder for si
HIV/AIDS infection rates are rising again in Uganda , the World health organisation (WHO) has said, reports Anne Mugisa. In a just-released report, WHO said infection rates, which had been brought down to 5.6% in men and 6.9% in women by 2000, had now gone up to 6.5% in men and 8.8% in women. Uganda has been showca
GULU-TASO regional centre on Friday commissioned 100 HIV/AIDS volunteer counsellors as displaced people go back home in Gulu and Amuru districts. Each counsellor was given a new bicycle to facilitate their movement. The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) centre manager, Kimera Mutebi, said the counsellors were trained wi
FIFTY percent of Ugandan HIV/AIDS patients access anti-retroviral (ARVs) through an innovative programme, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed. The new WHO report says in the programme, nurses are trained to handle some work traditionally done by doctors and community health workers take up the nurses roles
ANTI-retrovirals (ARVs) worth sh936m expired at the National Medical Stores (NMS) last month. More drugs are expected to expire in December. The Ministry of Health interdicted the general manager, Robert Rutaagi, and the stores manager, David Bagonza. For over a month the parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statuto
GLOBAL Fund partners in Uganda are proposing new measures on how to receive the funds for HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB and ensure its proper use, writes Fred Ouma. Dr. Elizabeth Madraa, the head of the HIV/AIDS Control Programme in the ministry of health, said the key partners, including civil society groups, NGOs and the
PEOPLE infected with HIV in war-torn northern Uganda may rise to over 60%, Richard Obura, the World Vision Uganda board chairman, has said. Obura said despite awareness campaigns on the pandemic, prevalence has stagnated at 6% to 7% in Uganda and the infection rate rising fast in the north. He was speaking at the W
Uganda has anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to last until 2008, Dr Lawrence Kaggwa, the director of planning at the Ministry of Health, has said. Kaggwa was recently reacting to fears that Uganda would run out of ARVs following the Global Fund s rejection of the round six proposal. We applied for the supply of ARVs
Increasingly, parents are getting more concerned about the HIV/AIDS status of their house helpers. Stories of possible affairs and malicious infections are scaring. Because they entrust their children and spouses to houseboys or housegirls, parents become anxious about their HIV status. And the issue of the right to kn
The fight against HIV and tuberculosis (TB) will fail if it does not consider the widespread nutrition deficiency, the Vice-President has said. Prof. Gilbert Bukenya said malnutrition exacerbated co-infection by HIV and TB and this could end lives of people living with HIV/AIDS within months. Nearly 18 million Ugandans
A religious leader in one of the churches in Kampala advised a couple intending to get married to come with HIV test results before he could wed them. The couple kept on dodging until the wedding day thinking they would get away with it. But a doctor was called in to do a rapid HIV test only to discover the couple was
Uganda received accolades for leading Africa s most effective anti-AIDS campaign for 20 years with almost no donor money. Yet in 2005, after receiving some US $45m, out of a $201m grant, the Global Fund abruptly turned off the taps. The subsequent Commission of Inquiry revealed, to the disgust of ordinary Ugandans, h
Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) launched a song to create AIDS awareness last Saturday at Centenary Park in Kampala. Dr. Hannah Kibuuka said the basic message of the ABC strategy has previously been presented in several ways except through showbiz. MUWRP is pleased to present this message through contem
A new initiative to eradicate HIV/AIDS in primary school children was launched at Naguru Infant Primary School last week. The initiative, the winners society, under Savannah Sunrise Foundation, Uganda (SAS), will help primary school children get knowledge on HIV/AIDS and mentor children. We must focus on the child
Dear Doctor, I recently found out that I am HIV positive when I went for routine medical check-up. I was told that I could delay developing AIDS if I eat well and use food supplements and immune boosters. Can I avoid developing AIDS by eating well and right? Ruth *** Dear Ruth, I wish to tell you that you will need con
Dr Margaret Chan was recently appointed the director-general elect of the World Health Organisation (WHO) by the World Health Assembly. In her acceptance speech, Dr Chan promised, as a priority, to reduce health problems in women and empower them. She said women are vulnerable to health problems from indoor air polluti
AN independent panel of health and development experts has advised the Global Fund against granting Uganda s HIV/AIDS and malaria proposals, citing weaknesses in implementing prior grants . The Fund s Communications Manager, Nicolas Demey, yesterday said although Uganda submitted proposals for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tub
ALARMING HIV/AIDS prevalence rates have been reported in Rakai district, writes Dismus Buregyeya. On the mutukula border town, HIV/AIDS prevalence rate was recorded at 30%, Lyantonde, 28%, Kyotera, 24% and kas-ensero, 36%. The records were disclosed by the Rakai Network of Aids Service Organisations chairman, Richard A
THE Ministry of Health yesterday explained that the failed sixth round of the Global Fund money was for strengthening the capacity of service providers. Primary healthcare minister Emmanuel Otaala allayed fears that missing out of the funds would not affect the country s Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) programme. He said
HEALTH programmes could be disrupted following a decision by the Global Fund to exclude the country from its list of beneficiaries, a senior government official said on Tuesday The decision by the Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria would exclude Uganda from the list of countries due to receive par
It started last year in August. David Senyonga, 33, would get on and off fevers coupled with persistent heavy cough. The doctor said he had pneumonia and gave him 12 injections. But the cough persisted, forcing Senyonga to go to Entebbe Grade B where he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) and was referred to the TB de
Dear Doctor, What are the effects of stigma in the fight against HIV/AIDS? Is it stigma that caused you to remove your photo from accompanying your articles? To me your photo gave HIV/AIDS a face. Barbara *** Dear Barbara, Stigma could be defined as anything that significantly discredits an individual or a group of peo
THE Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has cut its funding to Uganda . While it has provided $10 million to fight tuberculosis in its sixth round of expenditure, it has not given anything for HIV and Malaria. The cutback seems to be politically calculated to force Uganda to act decisively on the crisis
UGANDA has missed out on the sixth round of the Global Funds money for fighting HIV/AIDS and malaria. It has, however, been given $10.7m for fighting tuberclosis (TB), according to the final list of approved proposals on the global fund website. The Global Fund communications officer, Nicolas Demey, said in an email,
ABOUT 1,740 patients have registered for anti-retroviral treatment at the Uganda Cares clinic in St. Balikuddembe market in Kampala. This follows increased sensitisation by the Market Vendors AIDS Project (MAVAP) peer educators, Gloria Kalule, a Uganda Cares clinician has said. About 94% of the patients come from
US Ambassador Steve Browning has inspected the US-funded projects in Rakai district to assess their success. Accompanied by wife Susan, Browning went as deep as Kiwaguzi in Kasensero parish, Lwanda sub-county, where he watched a local drama sponsored by Rakai Aids Information Network. He learnt that through such drama
EAST African governments should make special budgetary allocations for gender, women activists have said. They said women have successfully struggled for affirmative action but the women movement has lost vibrancy because there is no special funding to gender issues. Marren Akatsa Bukachi, the executive director of the
THE board of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria on Friday approved a sixth round of 85 new grants totalling $847m. The new commitments expand the Global Fund s portfolio to $6.6b through more than 460 grants in 136 countries. By press time yesterday, it was not yet clear whether
HEALTH officials and HIV/AIDS activists have launched a campaign to fight HIV/AIDS in children and mothers in order to reduce new prevalence rate of the epidemic in future. The campaign is based on the realisation that the future generation are likely to be faced with greater challenges unless new HIV infections are pr
The Health Sector has continued to register progress despite insufficient funding and shortage of qualified staff. For 20 years the Ministry of Health has been moving towards fulfilling the mission of the health sector; the attainment of a good standard of health by all the people in Uganda , in order to promote
MANY Kawempe Division residents are HIV-positive, the division chairman, Nasser Takuba, has said. Takuba said the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the division had increased to 25% compared to the previous year s 10%. Out of every 200 people tested, about 50 are infected with HIV. Instead of witnessing a decrease in the inf
JINJA barmaids, hotel and lodge attendants are to teach condom use to clients, writes Donald Kiirya. The attendants in 80 bars and 50 guest houses are to be trained in sensitising their customers on condom use and HIV/AIDS prevention. The Organisation for Good Life of the Marginalised (OGLM), a local NGO, is to carry o
Much was expected from international gospel artiste Papa San and he gave the crowd exactly that. But unlike most VIP shows, this one had numerous standing ovations, including dance routines. Friday s VIP show at Serena Hotel International Conference Centre was filled with abstinence testimonies from various speakers.
Hi Uganda , my name is Darlene. I am 41 and you know what? I m still a virgin. These words electrified the more than 20,000 students who attended Papa San Abstinence concert at the Makerere University main sports ground on Sunday. Darlene, a fiancee to Papa San s manager, brought a message of hope to girls in Uganda wh
FIVE-time Olympic gold medal winner, Michael Johnson, chats with the children from Community Based AIDS Programme (COBAP) - a project in Nakulabye, last week. The nine-time World Champion track runner (1991-1999) is a member of Laureus Academy and was on a one-day visit to COBAP which is supported by the Laureus Sport
FIRST Lady Janet Museveni has urged the youth to consider abstinence as a badge of pride. You need to shun misguided people who say that if young people abstain from sex, it means they are backward, local or foolish, or that if you don t have sex before marriage, you will get complications in future. The youth should w
HER life is as dark as her face is light. Kemigisha is a brown girl. A brown girl whose only life has been darkened by life . Things went wrong right from the beginning. Right - Kemigisha s mother was a pupil in the school where her father was a headmaster. Wrong - her father defiled her mother. As a result, Kemigisha
UGANDA S rising population growth could create additional demands on water and food supplies, the House of Lords has warned. Uganda s population of 28.2 million people is expected reach 120m by 2050, according to experts. During the debate held on October 19, Lord Dick Taverne, who sponsored the motion, asked what step
CHILDREN in Lira district whose parents were killed by the LRA rebels and Aids orphans are to get a home care centre. The centre will be built by the Kampala-based God Helps Uganda , the director of the charity, Helena Kezelka, said recently. We want to give hope to these children by giving them education, she said af
The HIV epidemic will most likely go the same way most other epidemics went; by vaccine. A lot of research on vaccine development is being done. The Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRA) and the international AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), are responsible for that. According to UVRI physician Dr Fiona Kalinda, vaccin
Youth Alive Uganda last weekend reached out to the youth of Lugazi Town Council in Mukono District, to increase HIV/AIDS awareness. Pupils from various schools marched to the tunes of a brass band, holding banners that condemned cross-generational sex. The charity walk started at St. Kizito Primary School and ended at
THE Watoto Hope for Africa s Children Conference opened with a bang on Wednesday evening at Kampala Pentecostal Church. A moving multimedia display sent home the message that the Church needs to rise and touch the communities around it with the healing hands of Jesus. This was followed by a musical presentation by Wato
THE number of youth abstaining from sex has increased, a recent survey by the health ministry has shown. The study based on the Uganda Housing survey Baseline (UHSBS) and led by Dr. Alex Opio, the assistant commissioner for communicable diseases, shows that 50% of men and 64% of women aged 14 to 24 have never had sex.
Papa San, a renown Jamaican dancehall artiste, is set to perform in Kampala. The show is organised by Global AIDS Prevention -Initiative (GAP-I) in conjunction with the office of the First Lady of Uganda , Campus Alliance to Wipeout Aids (CAWA), Power FM, Fishnext, Serena Hotel and several local AIDS agencies, as part
THE First Lady has warned religious leaders against misleading people living with HIV/AIDS that prayers alone can cure the disease, writes Kyomuhendo Muhanga. Janet Museveni said, Leaders should stop misleading people in this fight against HIV/AIDS. You must give people correct information about the disease. Telling vi
THE first-ever dental clinic for people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda was opened yesterday at Mildmay Centre on Entebbe road. The clinic, worth sh34m, was funded by the British High Commission s small grants scheme. Opening the clinic on Wednesday, the consul, John Hamilton, said oral problems could be an indication o
HIV/AIDS vaccine trials to prevent mother-to-child transmission through breast-feeding have started at Mulago Hospital, writes Hillary Kiirya. The trail, the first in Africa, started on Thursday on the first-born baby out of the 50 mothers screened. Making breastfeeding safe is possibly the most important challenge for
THE ringing of a bicycle bell in Nyanama, a Kampala suburb off Entebbe Road, used to signal that either a milkman or fish vender was passing by. Now there is another addition: The circumciser. For three months now, Hajji Abubakar, the mubazi , has worked as such. Previously, he only used to sit at a mosque, hoping peop
A new talk-show about the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) has hit the airwaves. The talk-show, on Power FM, dubbed Positive Voices-Tukyogereko, (PVT) is a platform for health service beneficiaries, health service providers and the public to openly discuss matters concerning HIV and relationships. The talk s
His wife died of AIDS, he wants to marry me Dear doctor, A guy who lost his wife to AIDS, has proposed marriage to me. He looks healthy and says he is negative. He says he always used a condom with her because he saw a herpes scar on her back. I am not sure and suspect he could be on ARVs. Can I know the truth through
Remember Roses in the Rain? This was the first Uganda-Nigerian film shot and directed in Uganda. The first part was released in March, but was only shown to the press. As is with most Nigerian films, there is always part two and management has now decided to release both parts to the public. The film is about HIV/AIDS
KAMPALA - The Nairobi-based international Aids Vaccine Initiative chief, Dr. Sam Kalibbala, has called for increased funding of the vaccine research campaign. Kalibbala made the call while responding to concerns over the delayed discovery of the HIV vaccine. Hospital gets KAYUNGA - Kayunga Hospital has acquired a sh90m
Dear Doctor, I am three-months pregnant and HIV-positive. I am not prepared to have a child now because I am weak. Please advise me. I am thinking of an abortion, but which is the cheapest and best method because I am financially unstable. Worried Nifa Dear Nifa, It is a pity you were not prepared for the pregnancy. Pr
STANDARD Chartered Bank and Hotel Africana have donated items worth sh2m to Kawempe Positive Women s Union (KAPOWU) to enable the group become self-sustaining. The donation included 470 assorted plates, 403 tea cups, six big trays, 70 knives, 45 spoons and 10 large bundles of assorted old clothes and table clothes.
ATRIPLA, a new single-pill treatment for people living with AIDS that combines the most prescribed ARV drugs, will soon hit the Ugandan market. Patients will now be taking a single pill instead of the 10 or more they have been taking a day, said Apollo Ssemogerere, who represents one of the drug manufacturing companies
Over 60 officers on Friday graduated in palliative care for rural health professionals at the Mildmay centre, Uganda . Director Irene Kambonesa said palliative care was the backbone of treating HIV/AIDS along with antiretroviral drugs. Kambonesa said the mobile training programme trained people from northern Uganda bec
OVER 13,500 students nationwide have signed for sexual abstinence in the last three months, First Lady Janet Museveni has said. She said this followed a four-month training programme, No Apologies Abstinence Training Curriculum, in seven districts. The Organisation of African First Ladies against AIDS
VAST as Mulago Hospital is, the four Florence Nightingales , as they are popularly known have combed it all. Always wearing smiles, the palliative care nurses carry a promise of high quality end of life care for the terminally ill. The Nightingales are Josephine Kabahweza, Regina Nakanwagi, Freda Kolya and Harriet Tiba
EMPLOYERS should not discriminate against employees living with HIV/AIDS at the workplace, the coordinator for Positive Women Leaders of Uganda , Sophie Acan Odeng, urged last week. With the increasing level of awareness and massive campaign on HIV/AIDS, there is still fear, stigma and denial among the professional and
ASIIMWE, 22, a resident of Bugoye, in Kasese town, joined sex trade at 14 years. She was introduced to the trade by her sister-in-law who conspired with a man to rape her one night. When I complained to her the following morning, she told me it was going to feel sweeter each time I slept with men. I think she wanted to
SOLDIERS wives are worried over their spouses indifference towards contracting HIV/AIDS, reports Carol Natukunda. A Ministry of Health official in charge of behavioural change, Michael Muyonga, yesterday said statistics from the Uganda Sero-Survey showed that the HIV prevalence rate among soldiers was at 42%. Women
RAKAI district is set to become rich after kaolin, an important and rare mineral, was discovered in the embattled district. Rakai is known for HIV and AIDS. The first cases of the disease in Uganda were registered there. Rakai also suffered the brunt of the 1978 war that deposed Idi Amin. Located about 190kms from
THE proposed bill intended to punish people who defile young girls knowing that they are HIV-positive has lapsed. The parliamentary committee on HIV/AIDS chairperson, Dr. Elioda tumwesigye, confirmed this yesterday while responding to comments from National Forum for People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAFOPHAN) members at Ho
The World Health organisation (WHO) will procure antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for Uganda under the Global Fund arrangement. The Minister of Health, Dr. Stephen Mallinga, said following the mismanagement of the Global Fund last year, it was decided that WHO procures the antiretroviral drugs. Alex Ocen, the assistant
TWELVE-year-old Anabel Asasira dreamt of finishing school, getting married and raising her own family one day. The problem is; she contracted HIV/AIDS from her mother. A solution to problems like hers was the cause of the gathering of health experts on Friday at Kabira Country Club in Kampala, to launch the revised Pre
Kampala - UNICEF has given CARITAS Lira sh500m to fight against malaria and to prevent HIV/AIDS infection among pregnant mothers, children and the youth in the internally displaced people s (IDP) camps in Lango region, writes James Oloch. CARITAS Lira project coordinator Beatrice Achiro said the project was being pilot
AIDS Information Centre NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Secretary, Board of Trustees, AIDS Information Centre (AIC) - Uganda would like to inform all stakeholders that the next AIC Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 30th September 2006 at Hotel Africana, Kampala at 8.30a.m. The Agenda is as fol
TWO top officials of the National Council of Sports (NCS) Timothy Magala and Nicholas Muramagi are facing investigations over forgery and false accountability over the controversial Global Fund money. Magala and Muramagi, assistant secretaries at the council, on Tuesday appeared at the CID headquarters and were release
THE US government has donated $15m (sh28b) to the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment programmes. The funds will be used over a three-year period by the IRCU, which includes the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church, the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, the Orthodox Church
IN January, 200 youth in Jinja participated in a talent search; the first ever Sing Against Aids (SAA) competition tasked with producing a music album, whose proceeds will help AIDS orphans. After a nine-month search, The Singing Against Aids Winners album will be launched today at Jinja s Two Friends Bar and Restauran
WORLD Bank country manager Grace Yabrudy has asked the Government to prioritise accountability for donor funds, reports Fred Ouma. Yabrudy said accountability was particularly necessary following the mismanagement of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. We commend the President s action for not
THE Heath ministry yesterday estimated that drugs worth $0.5m (about sh925m) expired at the government s medical stores. The reported figure is too high. The real cost is far less than that. Between $0.4m or $0.5m, said Sam Zaramba, the director general of health services. Sunday Vision reported that life-extending ant
THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) has launched a $1m (about sh1.8b) campaign to boost women s entrepreneurship skills. Uganda being a predominantly an agricultural state, with 80% of her 28 million people employed in this sector, women, represent 80% of the agro-labourforce. They are responsible for 80% of fo
LIFE-PROLONGING antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) that were supposed to serve for one-and-a-half months have expired at the National Medical Stores (NMS) in Entebbe. About 80,000 patients are enrolled on the Government s supply of ARVs across the country out of an estimated one million people in urgent need of the therapy.
Kampala - AN $18m (about sh33.4b) plant belonging to Quality Chemicals will by June next year start manufacturing anti-retroviral (ARVs) and anti-malarial drugs, the company s chairman, Francis Kitaka, has said. President Yoweri Museveni gave the firm 12 acres in Luzira Industrial Park during a meeting with the company
KAMPALA is now a hub for visual arts. Almost every month, it hosts an art exhibition. Great works of art, the result of skilled hands, lofty ideas and exorbitant price tags have, thus, become the face of modern art in Uganda . However, much of this decorative work ends up in the posh living rooms of Kampala s elite and
The HIV/AIDS stigma that once hit Rakai district may be over, but other effects brought about by the AIDS scourge still haunt the district. The number of child-headed households is higher in Rakai than in any other district in the central region and the number of children engaged in child labour, including sex trade, i
POLICE chief Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura on Monday warned that child abduction is fast emerging as a major problem and implored delegates at a regional conference of top Police officers to take the matter seriously. Speaking at the opening of the 8th Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) meeting at
In an explosive session before a larger than average crowd at the UNAA Convention in New York, former UN Under Secretary General for children Olara Otunnu, on Sunday accused the government of Uganda of committing deliberate genocide against the people of northern Uganda. With government representatives led by Prof. Tar
Traditional health practitioners have asked the Government to the public private policy for health (PPPH), reports Fred Ouma. The PPPH is intended to define traditional health practitioners and regulate their activities, to ensure their effectiveness, safety, accessibility and sustainability of traditional medicines.
A DUSTY murram road winds its way up to 78-year-old Jennifer Ssenyonga s home, in Kabira Sub-county, Rakai District. The sun is blazing. Her house stands in a banana plantation. Graves lie in this sparse, arid plantation. A tense atmosphere hangs about. Children stand still in front of this square-shaped home. Others s
BE mindful of your health and avoid having children every year, a member of the Positive Voice, Tukyogereko, Charles Makanga, has warned women living with HIV. Makanga said this during the bi-weekly talk show, Tukyogereko at the Positive Men s Union offices at Kamwokya in Kampala last week. You suffer most when your a
THE AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) has since 2004 registered over 5,000 clients with the northern regional centre in Gulu town. The number reflects a very low margin of only 15% turn out for men, compared to 85% for females, management said. The new regional manager, Johnson Matsiko, revealed this at the third annual
LOW press coverage of reproductive health care has had a negative effect on promotion of family planning issues in the country, writes Juliet Waiswa. A senior principal nursing officer in the ministry of health, Grace Were, said many mothers die due to ignorance of family planning and birth control methods. Were made t
Hard-earned gains in the fight against AIDS may be eroding in Uganda , according to data presented at the concluded sixteenth International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada . The data is disheartening because Uganda was the first country in southern Africa to report a drop in both the rate of new infections and the p
A recent study on the marital HIV/AIDS risk and the ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use) approach in Uganda has revealed that the strategy is not effective in reducing the HIV infection among married women. While presenting the findings of her research at the school of Public Health, Makerere University on Augu
SISTERS United Uganda , a community-based non-governmental organisation, has launched a fundraising campain to help vulnerable women and children. Eva Adengo, a member of the organisation, said they started in April this year and their first priority is women inmates in Luzira prison. We visited Luzira prison and
The Aids Support Organisation (TASO) has expressed concern over the increasing prevalence of discordant partners among the HIV-positive families. TASO Mbale branch manager Joshua Mabonga said on Saturday 65% of the 8,000 clients registered with them were discordant. In most cases you find that the woman is HIV-positive
The 16th International Conference on AIDS drew to a close last Friday in Toronto, as the delegates packed up to return to the frontline where the real war on HIV/AIDS is being fought in the trenches, the slums, the villages and God-knows where. For many of the 22,000 participants from around the globe, the conference w
In 1996, Dr. Lydia Mungherera survived a bout of pulmonary tuberculosis. Unlike many patients, she had the discipline and medical experience to complete the lengthy treatment for TB - which kills nearly two million people every year, according to World Health Organisation (WHO). Since then, Mungherera, who has been liv
OUT of the 5,093 people who participated in the Kisubi home-based HIV/AIDS counselling and testing project, 396 (7.8%) were found HIV positive. The pilot project, known as Kisubi Hospital Initiative and Care for people living with HIV/AIDS (KICA), was done in the parishes of Kabale and Namulanda in Entebbe, Wakiso dist
The world s largest HIV/AIDS conference kicked off on Sunday in Toronto, Canada , with access to HIV/AIDS drugs as taking centre-stage in the discussion. The conference, attended by more than 300 Ugandans, including people with HIV/AIDS, provides an open forum for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and latest research on
THERE is a high incidence of HIV/AIDS among people in the Lake Victoria Basin, the project manager of AMREF’s Lake Victoria Basin Initiative, Opiyo Makoude, has said. He said in spite of the falling levels of HIV/AIDS nationally, there was still a high prevalence within the Lake Victoria Basin. Makoude said there was s
In an effort to take the abstinence message to the youth, African Child Foundation (ACF) has organised a gospel music gala. Dubbed Gospel Music Show Against HIV/AIDS , it will take place on Sunday at Hotel Calender Gardens, Makindye from 2:00pm and it is free. The main attraction of the show and lead singer will be loc
Starfish Initiative UK has donated HIV/AIDS campaign equipment worth 10,000 pounds to Iteso Paramount Chief Emorimor Augustine Osuban Lemukol. The Starfish project manager, Bev Pettle, recently handed over to Osuban two DVD players and 20 CDs with HIV/AIDS messages in Ateso at the Church of Uganda Medical
MINISTER without portfolio Dorothy Hyuha has called for inclusion of politicians in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Hyuha said politicians could champion the cause against the epidemic if only their influential role is recognised and emphasised in the central plan. We should not only target the relevant committees of Parli
MINISTER without portfolio Dorothy Hyuha has called for inclusion of politicians in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Hyuha said politicians could champion the cause against the epidemic if only their influential role is recognised and emphasised in the central plan. We should not only target the relevant committees of Parli
Pregnant women in Busia district have not responded well to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission treatment (PMTCT), the area health officer has said. Dr. George Oundo Bwire also said pregnant mothers had continued to show unwillingness to go and test for HIV/AIDS. This is a very big problem. The number of pre
THE health ministry has hailed Hima Cement for providing free Anti-Retroviral Therapy to its employees and residents of Kasese. In December last year, Hima s Voluntary Counselling and Training Centre, sought accreditation to provide free care and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS. Launching the centre at Hima IA
THE Uganda Red Cross Society and the Luweero District Forum for People Living with HIV/AIDS have launched a three-year sensitisation project to help people infected with HIV/AIDS live a positive life. The project, which targets HIV/AIDS patients, orphans and vulnerable groups, sensitises on how to stop the spread of th
THE leading cause of human death in Africa is HIV/AIDS. Research has shown that the disease spreads fastest in cities where half of the world s population is said to live, writes Raphael Okello. This revelation compelled mayors and town clerks, under the umbrella of Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS
UGANDA has received over US$41m (sh70b) from the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria since August 2005, MPs heard on Tuesday. The desk officer for health in the Ministry of Finance, Rogers Enyaku, said US$33.7m was received by May and US$8m had been disbursed through the World health Organisation to procure long l
THE Government is drafting a Bill to punish people who knowingly infect others with HIV. The Uganda Law Reform Commission (ULRC) chairperson, Prof. Joseph Kakooza, said yesterday relevant studies on the Bill had been finalised and the law would be operational by the end of this year. He said the commission was yet
THE Government will reject the legalisation of sex workers, ethics state minister Dr. James Nsaba Buturo said yesterday. Addressing journalists at Social Security House in Kampala, Buturo said prostitution was immoral and would undermine the struggle against HIV/AIDS. What a shame it is. If you are a legislator and you
UGANDA has launched a campaign to intensify anti-HIV/AIDS efforts. The Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, has called for more condoms to be made available to his contemporaries to check the spread of the scourge that has risen from 6.1% to 6.4% as a result of complacency. The strategy aims at universal HIV/AIDS pre
State minister for ethics Dr. Nsaba Buturo yesterday lashed out at Parliament for considering legislation and legalisation of the sex trade. The Deputy Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga, on Monday told a Ghana parliamentary delegation they were considering debating the legality of sex workers and their work as part of the strugg
Until recently, the role of condoms in protecting women from cervical cancer was widely disputed. However, basing on the most recent research, Dr. Fred Mach Okuku of the Uganda Cancer Institute, Mulago Hospital says; Women who use condoms consistently during sex are less likely to get cervical cancer than those who do
Rotaract Club of Rubaga recently sensitised people with hearing impairments about HIV/AIDS at the Uganda Society for the deaf Vocational Training Centre, Rubaga. Assisted by facilitators from TASO and the AIDS Information Centre, 90 students were taken through sessions of HIV/AIDS, its effects and prevention. The t
The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) will on Friday have a candlelight dinner at Grand Imperial Hotel in commemoration of the children who have died of HIV/AIDS. The UAC director general, Dr David Kihumuro, said the dinner whose theme is Unite for the children who died of AIDS, will provide a platform for stakeholders to h
The American Journal of Psychiatry has published a new study on mania, conducted at Mulago and Butabika hospitals by Dr Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu and associates of Makerere University. Mania is an excitement of psychotic proportions manifested by mental and physical hyperactivity, disorganisation of behaviour and elev
BREASTFEEDING is the best choice for a mother and a baby however for HIV positives mothers it must be done with caution because it may lead to transmission of HIV to the baby. About 15-20% of all HIV infections in babies is transmitted through breastfeeding. Doctors recommend that if an HIV positive mother is to breast
CLOSE to 70% of the women in Internally Displaced People s (IDP) camps in Kitgum district have at least one or more gynaecological problems, a new report commissioned by ISIS-WICCE, a women s international non-governmental organisation reveals. The report, Medical Interventional Study of War-Affected Kitgum 2006 sponso
PARLIAMENT is to consider debating the legality of sex workers and their work, in the struggle to fight HIV/AIDS. In the 7th Parliament, sex workers approached the social service committee seeking Parliament to pass a law legalising their behaviours. This was and is still a controversial and sensitive issue, which drag
A SHORTAGE of condoms has hit Mukono district, Harriet Nsubuga, the condom focal person, has said. There are 0.5m sexually active people in Mukono but we received only 60,000 condoms from the health ministry for the first half of 2006. This is too little, she said. Nsubuga said the district has been receiving 500,000 c
The Uganda AIDS Control Project that has been leading the fight against HIV/AIDS is winding up, writes Kyetume Kasanga. The World Bank funded the five-year project at $55m (over sh100b). Dr. Peter Nsubuga, who has been coordinating it, said financial disbursements to districts ended on June 30. He gave them six months
HE didn t want to die! He implored God to give him five more years. Dr. Stephen Watiti had developed AIDS. He didn t want to die and leave his young daughter. She is only four years. Her mother died. If I die too, she will be all alone, he pleaded with his creator. The Almighty heard and Watiti was healthy for five yea
THE Police are yet to find witnesses to testify against Iranian herbalist Prof. Shiek Allagholi, who is charged with manufacturing a drug that he purports to cure HIV/AIDS, reports Maurice Okore. State prosecutor Jane Musimenta yesterday told Buganda Road Court magistrate Margaret Tibulya that efforts to find the witne
OVER 70,000 people are accessing free anti-retroviral treatment, surpassing a target of 60,000, health minister Stephen Malinga has said. Presenting the ministry s 2006/2007 budget statement to parliament, Malinga said, HIV prevalence is still high among people between 15 and 49 years and has stagnated at 6% for five y
SCARING news for the poor living with HIV/AIDS has popped up once again. Reuters reported last week that India is planning to change its drug approval system in a way that would put the price of Anti Retroviral drugs (ARVs) out of reach of millions of poor people. New Delhi, under pressure from the
SECURE the future and Baylor College of Medicine have staked sh407bn ($2.2m) to construct a paediatric and family HIV/AIDS care clinic in Mulago hospital. While officiating at the ground-breaking ceremony for the centre recently, state minister for health Richard Nduhura said the centre is a milestone in the struggle a
The youth will congregate at Nakivubo Stadium tomorrow for a conference on the importance of virginity. The conference organised by Back to the Bible truth a Christian organisation is the first of its kind for the Christian youth. This year s theme is Power of virginity among the youth. Apostle Alex Mitala, the directo
ACTION Aid has asked developed nations to give more aid to less developed countries and also waive off debts of those that are in extreme poverty. Country director Amanda Sserumaga yesterday said, The G8 Summit has not yet delivered on all its promises, thus while the Call to Action against poverty was loud and clear,
THE HIV prevalence rate in Arua district has dropped to a record 2.5%, the district vice-chairman, Camilo Sabo, has said. While delivering a keynote briefing to US ambassador Steven Browning on Monday, Camilo said the figure was derived from the National Sero Surveillance survey conducted by the Uganda
A baby born HIV negative can become infected with the virus through breastfeeding. But in most resource-limited settings, where water safety is an issue, where there is stigma over not breastfeeding and use of breastmilk substitutes is not affordable or sustainable, most HIV-infected women choose to breastfeed. Paediat
THE construction of a $50m (about sh93b) anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) and Artemisinin-based combination therapy for malaria treatment plant has started at the Luzira Industrial Park in Kampala. The plant, owned by Quality Chemicals, is among the 17 projects that were allocated the 64-acre-piece of land at Luzira Prison
THE health ministry has 120 million condoms, enough to last two years. State minister for primary healthcare Dr. Emmanuel Otaala (right) told Parliament yesterday, We have enough stock. there is no shortage of condoms. even if adults are active enough to have sex three times a week, the stock is enough. Responding to q
THE Assembly of the African Union sitting in Gambian capital Banjul, has tasked Uganda to monitor the HIV/AIDS epidemic among the police, prisons and the armies in Africa, reports Milton Olupot. Uganda is among the eight countries that formed the AIDS committee at the AU Seventh Ordinary Session held on July 1 and 2.
EDUCATION experts were on Saturday shocked to learn that some school prefects lure girls into sex. During a schools HIV/AIDS symposium at Kyambogo College School, one student told participants that prefects were misusing their authority. A friend confessed to me that he contested to get as many girlfriends as possible.
ERNST and Young, the caretaker of the Global Fund Uganda , has blacklisted NGOs which failed to account for grants, reports Jude Etyang. The NGOs will not be eligible for more funding from the Fund, the head of the Aids Control Programme, Dr. Elizabeth Madraa, said yesterday. Over 300 NGOs shared $8m (about sh12b) of
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has called upon the elite to stop hiding their HIV/AIDS status, saying they could perish. In a message delivered by Senior presidential adviser Kintu Musoke, Museveni said the country was bound to lose important people who fear to be associated with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Musoke had represente
THE chief of the interim unit running the embattled Global Fund project has resigned after disagreeing with Ernst and Young which was recruited as a caretaker firm for the project until September. Besides disagreeing with Ernst and Young on how the multi-million dollar project should have been managed, Dr. Sam Okuonzi
THE recently re-branded Engabu condoms have once again been rejected in Kabale and Arua districts. Backed by Arua district health team, Kabale district HIV/AIDS projects officer Winfred Mbabazi said at a workshop last Thursday that the condoms were rejected because of the negative attitude of the people towards them.
HIV/AIDS stakeholders have formed a partnership to coordinate HIV/Aids treatment and distribution of Anti-Retroviral Therapy in Kampala, reports Fortunate Ahimbisibwe. First Lady Janet Museveni who is the patron of partnership for Aids Treatment Providers (PATREP), launched the partnership at State House, Nakasero, on
Mariam Nalunkuuma, Juliet Waiswa and Irene Nabusoba Kampala
OVER 6,000 children between the ages of six weeks and 19 years are on antiretroviral drugs, an expert has said. The executive director of Baylor College of Medicine Children s Foundation Uganda , Dr. Addy Kekitiimwe, revealed this on Friday at the ground-breaking of a new pediatric and family HIV clinic in Mulago.
MINISTRY of Health officials yesterday allayed fears that antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) had run out. They said they had enough stock to last up to August, when the next batch is expected in the country. Antiretroviral drugs are prescribed for people living with HIV/AIDS. The people who take the drugs are not supposed to
THERE is a group of students at Makerere University who have formed a society to take some action against the spread of AIDS. They are called simply Fight Against AIDS (FAA) and their rationale for starting yet another organisation focused on AIDS is that the education messages put out by most of the other AIDS organis
My name is Patrick Donald Oucha, the coordinator of Safe Life Uganda and an HIV/AIDS activist. I m an Alur from West Nile, married with two children. Something happened recently that really traumatised me. I break down frequently. Priests have prayed for me, but I think I need more prayers and counselling to cope. In m
PEOPLE living with HIV are more prone to getting malaria, a preliminary study by Makerere University and University of California researchers has indicated. Anne Gasasira, of Makerere yesterday told a symposium on malaria at Hotel Africana in Kampala that people living with HIV were six times more likely to get repeate
TWAHA Waliggo was on cloud nine! The 42-year-old security guard at the US Embassy had just got his HIV test results and they were negative. He calls it a miracle because eight of his sexual partners, since 1989, have died from ailments that looked like AIDS. So have some of their boyfriends. Waliggo first tested negati
DOCTORS have advised that Twaha Waliggo needs to take further confirmatory tests. Dr Emmanuel Luyirika, the director of Clinical Services at Mildmay Centre, recommended the Uganda Virus Research Institute. There Waliggo s blood can be subjected to various diagnostic methods like viral load, p24 antigen and culture tech
CHINESE Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Saturday made an emotional visit to Mulago Hospital s Infectious Disease Institute (IDI) that cares for HIV-positive persons and donated US$100,000 (about sh180m) to it. Jiabao, who was on a two-day visit, hailed Uganda for what he called an outstanding fight against HIV/Aids. A
A new condom brand, Trust Condoms, has been launched to target rural areas. Population Services International (PSI) launched the new brand in Bushenyi recently. PSI sales and distribution director Catherine Kamau said, Rural populations in hard-to-reach areas for the commercial sector have been historically underserved
WHEN Irene, 16, a senior three student at Entebbe S.S became sexually active, she threw all caution to the wind and went on a sex rampage. Before long, she was pregnant. Her HIV+ mother, being financially incapacitated, was not in position to help her adolescent daughter. Desperate, desolate and confused, Irene ran awa
THE HIV prevalence is highest among the rich and educated Ugandans, a Ministry of Health report on HIV/AIDS has said. Presenting the report s final findings on Monday at Kabira Country Club in Bukoto, Dr. Wilford Kirungi, a principal investigator said the prevalence varied from 4% among the poor to 9% among the wealthy
HEALTH minister Dr. Stephen Malinga has refuted statistics quoted in the budget that put the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate at 7.1%. Malinga on Friday said the rate quoted by finance minister Ezra Suruma had created some apprehension in the public that the number of people contracting HIV/AIDS was rising. While presenting th
GOAL Uganda , an Irish-based international humanitarian organisation, has given sh1b towards the fight against HIV/AIDS in Bugiri District. Jackie Katana, the project manager GOAL Bugiri, recently said the grants were allocated to 10 community-based and non-governmental organisations for the prevention, care and mitiga
THE AIDS Health Care Foundation has donated $10,000 (about sh18m) to the Uganda Women s Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO). Janet Museveni, wife of the President and patron of UWESO, received the money on Monday at State Lodge, Nakasero, from the AIDS Health Care Foundation director of Operations in charge of the African B
UGANDA offers two times as much antiretroviral therapy to HIV-positive people as Tanzania and Kenya combined. This is according to the United Nations 2006 report on AIDS, which was released at the special UN conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the month when the pandemic was first diagnosed.
THE oral cavity is one of the first sites in which HIV/AIDS presents itself in individuals, says a brochure from the dental surgery department, Makerere University School of Medicine. In spite of this, oral health in HIV/AIDS has been neglected. While speaking at an international conference on oral health and HIV/AIDS,
I was, in a way, responsible for my own baby, Maguire said in a recent interview as she dabbed a glob of an odourless, colourless substance made from carrageenan into her hand. Maguire, a biomedical researcher for the population Council and a chair of a session at the biannual global conference on microbicides in
MOTHER-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS is the second highest means of spread of the scourge in Uganda , after sexual intercourse, researchers have said. Dr. Enid Mbabazi of the Makerere University Institute of Public Health said studies also indicated that diseases like malaria and syphilis during pregnancy increased
Lillian Asiimwe was introduced to sex too early. By the age of 10, she had seen adults, including her aunt, having sex right in front of her. The young girl lived in Bwaise with her aunt who sold local brew and her body to earn a living. I grew up a perverted little girl, Asiimwe recalled. Speaking at the Rhema dinner
THE Aids Information Centre (AIC), an NGO at the helm of the fight against the HIV/AIDS scourge, is in a financial crisis that threatens its service delivery, posing a threat to the national campaign against the scourge The grim details of the financial constraints that have befallen AIC emerged on Wednesday at a meeti
FORMER health minister Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi said yesterday he was happy that the Global Fund probe committee had recommended that the funds be channelled as budget support. Muhwezi said at the handover ceremony that the problems with the Project Management Unit arose because the Global Fund Secretariat in Geneva insis
OVER 70 sex workers from Kawempe, Nakulabye, Bwaise and Kampala have been trained on issues concerning HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. Closing the one-day workshop organised by Women at Work international (WAWI) and AFFORD, Dr. Michael Tabuzibwa, the district heath educator, told the sex workers that they should know their s
According to a report released by the Panos AIDS programme, there is some progress made by many countries in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic globally. However, many countries may not achieve the millennium development goal of halting and reversing the epidemic by 2015. And what is lacking is stronger political comm
UGANDA has become the first country in the world to develop and test the functional information processing network, a project aimed at addressing the information needs of the health sector. It is due to the new technology that the Uganda Chartered HealthNet (UCH) won the Public Sector Excellence Award given by the Worl
YOUTH should not indulge in early sexual acts, because they risk getting HIV/AIDS, the Nabagereka has said. Sylvia Nagginda was recently presiding over the hand-over of Nkoba Zambogo leadership at the Buganda Royal Institute Mengo. She advised marriage couples to be faithful to their partners. Nabagereka emphasised the
UGANDANS are among men in seven African countries to get circumcised as a measure to curb HIV infection. UNAIDS , a UN AIDS body, is carrying out a study in Uganda and Kenya to show that circumcision reduces the risk of contracting HIV by a big margin. An estimated 8,000 men are involved in the study, wh
GULU district has warned proprietors of bars and lodges and residents over the improper disposal of used condoms. Gulu HIV/AIDS focal person, John Opwonya, said this while receiving 116 cartons containing 501,120 pieces of condoms of the new Engabu condoms from the health ministry on Monday. He said there had been impr
THE deaf people will be wiped out if no action is taken to increase their access to information about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The Uganda National Association of the Deaf (UNAD) director, Alex Ndeezi, said 90% of the deaf population in the country cannot write or read and some people were taking advantage of their ignora
Uganda offers two times as much anti-retroviral therapy to HIV positive people as Tanzania and Kenya combined. This is according to the United Nations publication, 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic, released at the special UN conference to mark the 25th anniversary to the month when the pandemic
THE latest stories on Uganda ’s HIV/AIDS response have been rather negative, as seen in the Global Fund scam and the ban of Khomeini. Could these be a pointer that something is going wrong in our fight against HIV/AIDS? From what has been reported, one could think that AIDS has become a lucrative business at the expens
THE long awaited report of the commission of inquiry into the mismanagement of international Global Fund money for the fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis is out. Commission chairman Justice James Ogoola, in handing over the report to President Museveni, described the Global Fund saga as tragic drama. Museveni
Talk that all our professional drama groups have failed to attract the creme de la creme, the elites of our society, will soon be no more. Afri-Talent, under the directorship of Abbey Mukiibi, Mariam Ndagire and John Segawa, opened a new chapter with a new play, Rise in the Dark. Rise in the Dark is about the all-batte
THE GLOBAL Fund (GF) probe commission has recommended that the three former health ministers, Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi, Capt. Mike Mukula and Dr. Alex Kamugisha should be probed further with a view to prosecute them for, among others, perjury, causing financial loss and uttering false documents. In its report presented to
THE commission of inquiry into the mismanagement of the Global Fund has handed over its final report to President Yoweri Museveni. The long-awaited 400-page report was handed over to the President yesterday by commission chief Justice James Ogoola who was with the other members. The handover was at State House, Nakaser
THE World Food Programme (WFP) on Saturday distributed over 50 metric tonnes of food relief to 1,200 households in Lira district. The food, aimed at improving the immunity of people living positively with HIV/AIDS, was distributed through the Community Seeking a Better Living (COSBEL) project under Lira Regional Referr
MULAGO Hospital has acquired a new haemodialysis machine worth $25,000 (sh46m) to improve the treatment offered to kidney patients. The Swedish-made Gumbro-type haemodialysis machine donated to Mulago Hospital by Bank of Uganda (BoU) recently, brings the total number to four. In 1996 Mulago Hospital procured a haemodia
Scientists in the United States have taken a close up, three-dimensional look at spike proteins on the surface of the AIDS virus which could speed up the search for a vaccine. The proteins, known as gp120 and gp41, allow HIV, which causes AIDS to bind and fuse with human cells. We have got the first really good look of
SOROTI diocese bishop Dr. Charles Bernard Obaikol has appealed to the youths to desist from drinking alcohol, visiting video halls and discos, saying they were one way they could get HIV/AIDS, reports Simon Naulele. He asked the youth to find out their sero status by going for voluntary testing. He said after drinking,
THE director general of the Uganda Aids Commission, Dr. Kihumuro Apuuli, has expressed fears about the fate of HIV/AIDS patients following the reduction in the Ministry of health budget. Kihumuro yesterday said the budget cuts in the proposed budget framework for 2006/07 were likely to affect patients access to antire
Buganda Katikiiro Dan Muliika has called upon the youth to abstain from sex in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Muliika, represented by his deputy and Mengo minister for education, Emmanuel Ssendawula, at the swearing-in of new leaders for Nkobazambogo association at Kampala International University on Saturday, advised the
Deaths among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) could escalate if both TB and HIV infections are not addressed concurrently, health experts have warned. The Director General of Health Services, Dr. Sam Zaramba, told over 200 district health educationists that the marriage between the two diseases posed a colossal threa
PRESIDENT Museveni has requested UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to put the HIV/AIDS pandemic high on the agenda in the forthcoming UN General Assembly scheduled for June in New York, USA. The Uganda Aids Commission chief, Dr. Kihumuro Appuli, said President Museveni wanted the G8 states to give priority to the fight a
WOMEN are shunning the HIV vaccine trial exercise, the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) chairperson has said. The Rev. Fr Christopher Kiwanuka made the remarks on Thursday at the International HIV Vaccine Awareness Day at Centenary Park in Kampala. We are having difficulty in getting women to take part in t
Prevention against HIV and other illnesses is a human right to all Ugandans and not a privilege to only a few in society, the president Society of Women and AIDS in Africa Dr. Margaret Muganwa has said. Flavia Nakagwa reports that Muganwa said unless further infections against illnesses like HIV/AIDS were prevented, th
The high rate of HIV/AIDS spread is a major threat to the realisation of the Millennium development Goals (MDGs), Jinja LC5 chairman Hannington Basakana has said. Basakana, who said AIDS was affecting all sectors, urged stakeholders to work towards reducing its spread, especially in developing countries, saying they we
THE education sector still faces a big challenge on the issues concerning HIV/AIDS in schools, a technical adviser in the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) has said. Catherine Barasa said MoES is faced with a new challenge of HIV-positive teachers who are handling HIV-positive students, yet the teachers are also
Local communities will have more access to health care products at subsidised rates following the launch of a new health social marketing project, AFFORD. AFFORD, a USAID- funded project, is designed to use innovative marketing and communication to achieve a broad public health impact in Uganda . Kojo Lokk
Theatre lovers who thronged Pride Theater on Namirembe Road recently, were treated to a monologue play titled, In The Thick of It. The one-man HIV/AIDS awareness play, was staged by its writer Aloysius Matovu Junior last week. The play is a true-life experience tale in which Junior laments the loss of his parents and 3
MEN living with HIV/AIDS have formed a body, Positive Men s Union (POMU). The organisation promotes positive attitudes and beliefs among men towards care and prevetion of HIV/AIDS. POMU is an NGO of men living with HIV/AIDS, who were clients of the AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) but decided to be independent. TAS
FORMER South African deputy president Jacob Zuma was acquitted of rape charges on Monday. The judge found that the sex was consensual but had scathing words for Zuma who knowingly had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman. Afterwards he merely had a shower to clean himself up. South Africa has one of the highest r
THE clients of an Iranian scientist who has been selling a concoction said to cure AIDS are pleading for his release. Professor Allagholi Elahi was arrested in Kampala last month following months of controversy over his Khomeini drug. He has been claiming that Khomeini expels HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that
EDUCATION International regional coordinator for Africa, Emanuel Fatoma has called on African countries to emulate Uganda s Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme and the campaign against HIV/AIDS. Fatoma was speaking during activities to mark the Global Campaign for Education, at Kalinabiri Primary School recentl
MULAGO Hospital will start carrying out kidney transplants by February 2007 if the hospital gets US$150,000 (about sh275.3m) to upgrade the renal unit. Dr. Edward Kigonya, a senior consultant physician, said US$30,000 of the funds would be used to sponsor eight renal surgeons on training in
Group A - KKL v TKL Kitgum - TKL Kumi v Burundi - KKL v Kumi GroupB - TKL Kumi v TKL Lira - Luwero v Ligi Ndogo - Gulu vLira Group C - IDP v TKL Arua - FOS v Anti Aids Uganda - IDP v Anti Aids Uganda KENYAN U-15 boys football teams, Ligi Ndogo and Friends of Sport (FOS), and Burundi Direct arrived in Kampala yesterday
ABUJA, Thursday – Many young Africans are losing their virginity later, having fewer sexual partners and using more condoms - signs that the campaign against AIDS is finally hitting home, a world authority on the disease has said. Young people in Uganda , Kenya and Zimbabw
THE Association Francois Xavier- Bagnound (AFXB) in Uganda plans to celebrate World AIDS Orphans Day at Wobulenzi playground on Sunday, May 7. AFXB is an international NGO founded in Switzerland in 1989. Present in 17 countries, AFXB s mission is to provide support to the world s HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable childre
Geneva, Switzerland – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to call for a new round of grant proposals from countries striving to combat AIDS, TB and malaria. The call for a new round of proposals at this time - the sixth in the history of the Global Fund – puts the Board on track
IRANIAN herbalist, Prof. Sheik Allagholi Elahi, was yesterday charged with four offences arising out of the manufacture and sale of his drug that he purports to cure HIV/AIDS. Buganda Road Court Chief magistrates court charged Elahi with manufacturing or preparing a drug not on the National Drug Formulary and supply of
THE Government has ordered Iranian Prof. Sheik Allagholi Elahi to stop his activities and claims that he has a cure for HIV/AIDS using Khomeini products. Elahi has subsequently been arrested. Elahi, who claims that his drug expels the HIV virus from the body, was arrested on Tuesday at 4:00pm at his offices at Naguru,
Another hope dashed- gone with the wind! Khomeini, the medicine we were told cures HIV/AIDS, is nothing but a piece of straw floating in the ocean of death. Now the waves of HIV are having the last laugh. Last Thursday, Primary Health Care state minister delivered the bad news. Dr Alex Kamugisha told Parliament that Kh
OVER 200 widows living with HIV in Kamuli and Bugiri districts recently received various items worth sh18m for economic empowerment, reports Moses Nampala. The incentives disbursed to the underprivileged included, sewing machines, goats, cows and cash for some who preferred to initiate small businesses. Save The Orphan
The defiant Iranian professor, Allagholi Elahi and management of his Elahi International Initiatives that sells the Khomeini drug that purportedly cures HIV/AIDS are liable for prosecution for obtaining money by false pretence. The minister for General Duties, Prof. Mondo kag-onyera, told parliament yesterday that Elah
PADER district chairman Yakobo Komakech has decried the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS among displaced persons in camps. Addressing IDPs recently, Komakech said most camp dwellers were young mothers, girls and boys. This is the most sexually-active age group and highly vulnerable to HIV infection, he said, adding that the
A large gathering of pupils cheered and clapped. Life at school, perhaps, would not be the same thereafter. Feed the Children Uganda (FTCU) with support from Feed the Children UK on April 7, launched a school-feeding project in Katakwi County, Kaberamaido district. The project aims at improving nutrition, sanitation an
THE Government has warned the public against buying an HIV/Aids drug called Khomeini because it has no therapeutic value. Primary health care state minister Dr. Alex Kamugisha told parliament yesterday that investigations carried out by experts in the ministry showed that Khomeini products belonging to Iranian Prof. Sh
MEDICIN San Frontierers (MSF), an international humanitarian organisation, is to give free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Lira district. The project coordinator, Karla Bill, on Saturday said voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) had started in Aromo and Aloi IDP camps, where
THE Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI) is distancing itself from a letter written by presidential legal aide Fox Odoi to smoothen their access to the Global Fund money. The controversial letter was cited as political influence in the management of the Global Fund during the recent commission of in
It s not everyday that you fly to the United States of America to meet the First Lady, Laura Bush. And if I told you it was business as usual, I would be lying. The evening of March 11 saw me off from Entebbe Airport. The unending 24-hour flight could not dampen my spirit. At the end of my flight, I encountered my firs
THE manufacturer of Khomeini, an anti-HIV/AIDS drug, has complained that Government officials were frustrating the approval of the drug. Institute of Elahi International Initiatives for Development and Education director Prof. Allahgholi Elahi in a letter to health minister Jim Muhwezi said government officials and age
THE next batch of Global Fund (GF) money is to be channelled towards treating HIV-positive children in Uganda , GF chief Dr. Sam Okuonzi has said. Okuonzi said, The emphasis on treating HIV- positive children has been small. We are going to increase support towards them. He said despite mismanagement of the GF by some
THE Global Fund investigation yesterday signaled political influence as it examined a letter by President Yoweri Museveni directing health minister Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi to support the Uganda Farmers Association (UFA) with money from the AIDS fund. Four other letters to Muhwezi written by presidential aide Fox Odoi and
Four million health workers are needed to combat the chronic shortage around the world, a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned. In a World Health Day release on April 7, WHO revealed that 57 countries have a serious shortage of health workers, affecting immunisation, pregnancy care and access to t
Scientists have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that cells use to fight off HIV. Two proteins that normally help repair cellular DNA were found also to destroy DNA made by HIV after it enters a human cell which it requires to survive. It is hoped the breakthrough could lead to treatments to which the virus mi
AMERICAN popstar Alicia Keys yesterday asked the world to do more in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Keys, visiting a health facility for antiretroviral drugs to HIV-positive children and their families in Masaka, said she had seen the devastating effects of the disease she first encountered five years ago in
TRIALS on an HIV vaccine aimed at preventing transmission of the virus from infected mothers to their babies through breast feeding are to start in the next few months at Mulago Hospital. The study is to last two years and the randomly- selected babies shall be monitored by a team of doctors from the clinic at Mulago.
THE government has earmarked sh113m for supporting orphans and vulnerable children in Kaberamaido district to get education, reports Bill Oketch. The officer in charge of the Kaberamaido HIV/AIDS control project, George William Ebulu, said 44 Community Led HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) groups would benefit from the progra
OVER 2.5 million people living in fishing villages have been isolated, neglected and abandoned inasfar as HIV/AIDS service provision is concerned, an official has said. The Uganda Fisheries and Fish Conservation Association (UFFCA), a collection of fisher community-based organisations, said this at the launch of the HI
Grammy-award winning popstar Alicia Keys arrives in the country tomorrow for a four-day trip to support the war against HIV/AIDS. The 26-year-old Keys and other American celebrities support the Brooklyn-based charity, Keep a Child Alive, which provides medicine to parents and their children living with AIDS in Africa.
A UK-registered charity plans to construct a multi-billion shilling hospital for children living with HIV/AIDS in Mbale. This was announced on Saturday at the launch of Kisakye Children s Trust, at Ugandan-run Exceline Restaurant, in East London. The trustees of the charity are Jerry Clore, Stephen Knaffer, Dr. Jeanett
TRADITIONAL healers and herbalists have been warned against sexual exploitation of patients, as a means of reducing disease spread and enhancing public trust in their work. Siraje Isabirye Kinagoidhi, the president of the Uganda National Integrated Cultural and Herbalists Association, made the call while meeting member
THE United Nations Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Uganda Scouts Association (USA) has launched a project, Scouting For Solutions (SFS), to fight HIV/AIDS, reports Irene Nabusoba. The USAID programme management specialist on HIV/AIDS, Herbert Mugumya, said the SFS project, which foc
The army does not segregate its personnel that are HIV-positive, army spokesperson Maj. Felix Kulayigye said in a statement yesterday. He said in a Daily Monitor story on April 3, that the chief of operations and training, Brig. Silver Kayemba, was quoted out of context . In the UPDF, everybody enjoys training faciliti
A team of 16 Forum Expert Coordinators has decried the lack of ARVs drugs in some major hospitals in the country. The team comprises people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and are trained by the health ministry to assist health workers in handling HIV/AIDS clients. At a meeting with Prossy Namakula, the coordinator of the
WORLD Vision has launched a five-year sh2.3b (1,083,336 Euros) HIV/AIDS home-based care project for orphans and vulnerable people in three sub-counties in Gulu district. Launching the project funded by the Netherlands government on Tuesday, the World Vision national chief executive, Oscar Pekelder, said over 10,000 tee
THE exodus of medical practitioners, especially nurses, to Europe for greener pastures is alarming and must be addressed urgently. The Makerere Medical School deputy dean, Prof. Sam Lugoba, on Saturday said there was need to avert a looming crisis caused by the exodus. He said many nurses were leaving the country month
THE UPDF chief of operations and training has cautioned soldiers against promiscuity. Brig. Silver Kayemba said promiscuity exposed them to risks of contracting HIV/AIDS, which he said was greatly affecting the institution. The UPDF is losing more soldiers to HIV/AIDS than to battles. We also cannot take the sick ones
The Medical Research Council (MRC), Entebbe has stopped the ARV Holiday programme, saying many participants were developing clinical HIV- related diseases. Ordinarily, people living with AIDS are supposed to take ARVs on a daily basis, but under the ARV Holiday programme, patients would take a break from ARVs for a giv
The Ministry of Health has finished analysing the Khomein herbal concoction and the Evaluation Committee is meeting today to agree on the format of the presentation, said Dr. Amandwa Jacinto, the commissioner of Clinical Services, Ministry of Health. Khomein is a herbal medicine for HIV/AIDS, currently administered by
THE commission inquiry into the mismanagement of the Global Fund yesterday put to task Vice-President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya to explain why he used the money for personal political mobilisation in his constituency of Busiro North. Probe chief Justice James Ogoola queried why Bukenya s NGO, Busiro North Development Found
THE Government has opened an account in the Bank of Uganda where people who misappropriated Global Fund grants and are ordered to refund will deposit the money. The Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI) yesterday received the first directive to deposit sh99m it received from the Project Management Un
Japan has given a grant of $11,351 (about sh20m) to Kiteredde Vocational Institute in Rakai district to complete the construction of a library and information resource centre. Japanese ambassador Ryuzo Kikuchi (right) signed the grant contract on Friday with the institute principal, Prof. Hilary Kazoora, at the Japan
THE number of people getting infected with tuberculosis (TB) is on the rise. Uganda is now ranked 16th out of 22 countries in the world that have been identified as contributing 80% of the global burden of the disease. Dr. Francis Adatu, the programme manager in-charge of TB in the ministry of health, said despite TB d
THE Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation executive secretary, Thomas Maembe, has urged East African states to preach behavioural change as a long-term solution to HIV/AIDS, reports Joel Ogwang. He decried the high HIV infection rate and poverty among fishers, saying it threatens to wipe out the fishing industry. Maem
DR. Lydia Mungherera has been appointed an alternate board member of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Juan Jacobo Hernandezi, the general coordinator of the regional communication focal point of the Global Fund, said in a statement that mungherera would have a two-year term in office.
After spending 16 years of my life in the trenches fighting HIV/AIDS in Uganda , I can say that nothing hinders the battle than the widespread abstineophobia among the activists, policymakers and donors. The typical statement goes something like this well we all wish that abstinence would work, but we ALL know that it
ABOUT 400 people, most of them rural farmers, received voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) in Kisozi sub-county, Kamuli district. This was during the launch of the VCT services in Busoga by the Business PART project on Thursday. The project focuses on helping Ugandan business people in HIV/AIDS prevention, improve
CIVIL Society Organisations (CSOs) dealing in HIV/AIDS in Uganda have demanded the resignation of health minister Jim Muhwezi for his failure to avert the Global Fund (GF) mismanagement. Addressing a joint news conference yesterday at Regency hotel at Bakuli, Kampala CSOs gave Muhwezi, his deputies Mike Mukula, Alex Ka
MINISTER of health Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi s personal assistant Simon Kagumire yesterday told the Global Fund probe commission that his boss did not travel to South Africa at $19,000 from the fund as he had testified. Kagumire said while Muhwezi was supposed to go to South Africa on May 15, 2004, the trip was not made, t
ONE-week tour of eight primary schools in Iganga district by a team from the African Network for Prevention and protection of Children against Abuse and Neglect discovered 20 pregnant pupils. Venansio Ahabwe, the programme officer, told journalists on Monday that most of the pregnant girls were orphans. It appeared the
SHE is hot and gorgeous. She has style and talent. American music star Alicia Keys is coming to Uganda . Keys, an RnB and Hip Hop artist, arguably the hottest name in showbiz at the moment with nine Grammy Awards to her name, jets into the country on April 9 with an entourage of Keep A Child Alive, an American Charity
WORLD Vision Uganda has received a grant of sh1m euros from the Netherlands government to implement a five-year project on HIV/AIDS home-based care in Gulu district. The project will be implemented in the three sub-counties of Bungatira and Paicho in Aswa county and Lamogi in Kilak county. The Netherlands ambassado
LUGAZI diocese Bishop Matthias Ssekamanya has cautioned students to refrain from immoral behaviours that would make them vulnerable to HIV, reports Nicholas Kajoba. Ssekamanya was on Saturday laying a foundation stone to construct a sh600m administration block at St. Joseph s Secondary School, naggalama in Mukono distr
WITH a budget of just $4 of foreign aid per HIV- positive person, Zimbabwe has become the second sub-Saharan African country after Uganda to record considerable progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In October, UNAIDS announced that the infection rate among pregnant women had dropped from 24.
YOGHURT can be refreshing, but only if, it is clean and germ-free. Health experts say by consuming bacterial infested yoghurt, you risk your life to a disease called brucellosis. What is brucellosis? Dr. Olico Okui, a lecturer at Makerere University Institute of Public Health, describes it as a disease caused by bacter
Adija Namaganda (not real name) tested HIV positive in 1994. For years, her husband had routinely forced her into unprotected sex. He also beat her viciously. The husband, who was HIV positive, once attacked and bit off part of her left ear. Even on his death bed, when he was too weak to beat her, he ordered his younge
It was a cool evening at the Nawab Restaurant on the rooftop of Garden City. Women dressed in African attire and a few in Indian wear gathered to celebrate International Women s Day. The host was Barclays Bank whose theme was Equality and Diversity. The evening lived up to its theme as Owino market vendors rubbed shoul
US President George Bush s $600m Africa Education Initiative (AEI) will be allocated mainly for the education of primary and secondary school girls. Dr. Sarah Moten, the chief of education division bureau for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) told women journalists from Africa that at least
THE Government should start free testing of the viral load for people living with HIV/AIDS, Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga has said. We appreciate receiving free anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) but it is time people living with HIV/AIDS started demanding free testing for the viral load. Testing the viral load is expensive yet it
A ray of hope awaits people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda following requests to US drug makers to manufacture new and easy to use HIV drugs accessible in developing countries (LDCs). Patrick Jaramogi reports that several Africa-based humanitarian groups have urged Abbot Laboratories Inc., a US drug maker, to make a ne
THE AIDS healthcare foundation (AHF) has trained 75 medics to boost the Government human capacity in treating people living with HIV/AIDS. Bernard Okongo, the director of Uganda Cares, on Wednesday said the HIV medics were paraprofessional healthcare workers trained to assist clinicians in the provision of anti-retrovi
US-based Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has donated 53 bicycles to HIV/AIDS patients on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment at the Uganda Cares Clinic in Masaka to facilitate their movements while attending clinic days. AHF vice-president Peter Reis handed over the bicycles to the beneficiaries on Wednesday and said his o
THE Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) director general, Dr. David Kihumuro Apuuli, has called for more efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS. It is critical that we acknowledge that uganda has made progress in fighting HIV. The battle is not yet over. We still need to fight even harder, he said. In a speech read by Ros
UGANDANS use at most five million condoms per month, the national director of health services, Dr. Sam Zaramba, has said. Zaramba said a minimum of 60 million pieces of condoms are needed annually in the country s effort to fight HIV/AIDS. Receiving one million condoms from the AIDS Health Foundation and
Women have been urged to participate actively in the ongoing studies in the search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine. Dr. Hannah Kibuuka, the director, Clinical Programme, Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP), a research collaboration between Makerere University and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, says the success of
MEN who used to complain about small-size condoms need not to worry. The Government has imported a condom-testing machine that tests the length and elasticity of a condom up to eight inches. The machine, which was recently installed at the National Drug Quality Control Laboratory at Mulago, also tests the capacity of c
The Ministry of Education HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis Global Fund account has been frozen for failure to account for sh100m. The Commission of Inquiry into the misuse of the Global Fund yesterday ordered the ministry not to touch the remaining sh21.7m on the account until the first expenditure is explained.
Over 60 women in Kabale have been trained to detect and fight tuberculosis (TB) in their communities. The three-day training at Hotel Home Again was conducted by the CB-DOTS project, funded by a French NGO, Fidelis. The programme is also benefiting Kabale, Mpigi, Wakiso, Mayuge and Bugiri districts. The participants we
WHEN it comes to fighting the AIDS virus, the sooner patients start taking powerful drug cocktails, the better, even when it comes to side-effects known as toxicities, US researchers reported. Deaths, the rate of opportunistic infections and side effects were the lowest in patients who started treatment early while the
ALCOHOLICS generally suffer form depression but when they contract HIV, their depression intensifies and this makes it harder for them to want to quit drinking. But, we actually have more reason to quit drinking when we are HIV positive than when we are not. Alcohol is the last thing an HIV-positive person needs. Re
AFRICA - The developing world s fight against HIV/AIDS received a boost last month as pharmaceutical giant Roche and the Clinton Foundation announced efforts to increase the availability of drugs and diagnostic tools. Roche said it would provide technical expertise to help companies in sub-Saharan Africa make generic
UGANDA is among 76 less developed countries that will benefit from a 20% price reduction on a vital HIV/AIDS anti-retroviral (ARV) drug known as Stocrin ( efavirenz ), reports Kezio Musoke. Apollo Ssemwogerere, the country s director of Merck Sharp and Dohme s (MSD), the manufacturers, said yesterday the company had an
ABOUT 1,200 Makerere University students and lecturers have tested for HIV. The self-testing campaign was organised by Fight Against AIDS (FAA) and facilitated by International Air Ambulance (IAA), who offered 10,000 HIV test kits and T shirts. The tests started on February 4 and ended on February 18 at the Afro-Stone
KISUBI Hospital initiative for the Prevention and care for people living with Aids (KICA) is to provide voluntary HIV counselling and testing in homes. Dr. Burcie Kirenga, the project coordinator, launched the programme at Kisubi hospital in Entebbe on Saturday. He said all household members aged 18 and above who conse
ACTION Against Child Abuse and Neglect, an NGO operating in Soroti, is to pay schools fees for 114 orphans and vulnerable children in Gweri sub-county this year. The project officer in charge of HIV/AIDS, Aloysius Okiror, said the organisation had received sh27m from Save the Children in Uganda , under the Glo
The Ministry of Health is in the process of establishing whether the herb Khomein can cure AIDS as claimed by the Institute of Elahi International Initiative for Development and Education (IEIIDE). The ministry is sponsoring 50 patients for Khomein treatment. The patients are undergoing tests at the Joint Clinical Rese
The particular kind of HIV virus an AIDS patient has, may be more important than other factors in how quickly death comes, US and Ugandan researchers reported last week. They found that people infected with HIV subtype D died faster than those with HIV subtype A. The type of virus was a better predictor than viral load
THE Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), on February 6, announced a Phase II trial of a preventive HIV/AIDS vaccine code-named tgAAC09. The trial seeks to test the safety of the vaccine candidate and how it triggers the body s response. The Phase II trial foll
PEOPLE infected with HIV should not suffer silently, a Kabale district official has said. Winifred Mbabazi, the district HIV/AIDS focal person director of community-based services, urged them to utilise the available services. She was addressing a seminar on community counselling attended by officials from 26 CBOs,
AFTER crushing stones to pay for his primary school fees, Paul Ntege, had no hope of ever joining the secondary level. Had it not been for the mercy of St. Catherine s Preparatory School headmistress, Ntege would have even dropped out of school long ago. However, when his plight was highlighted in The New Vision, a cha
A RECENT study on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Uganda has shown that declining trends may not continue if there is no renewed focus on the prevention of the epidemic. Angela Akol, the head of the Family Health Department at the Population Secretariat, said a study by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNA
FORMER Vice-President Specioza Kazibwe on Wednesday stunned men in a meeting when she challenged all the uncircumcised to stand up. Kazibwe said research had shown that uncircumcised men were responsible for almost 70% of cervical cancer and HIV/AIDS in women. She was on Wednesday meeting members of Kampala Development
KAMPALA Ballet and Modern Dance School (KB&MDS) is offering free dance classes to clients of The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), reports Carol Natukunda. A statement from the school said the one-hour movement classes are aimed at reducing stress among clients. The classes will reduce physical stress and help to i
THE UN Children s Fund, UNICEF, has unveiled a US$82.8m (sh150b) five-year programme for Uganda , targeting the welfare of six million children. Signing the 2006-2010 pact at the finance ministry offices in Kampala on Wednesday, UNICEF country representative Martin Mogwanja said they would first target 3.3 million chil
IN Africa, a man who gets many women and children with other women is a great man. Such a man cannot lose votes because of that, said Gertrude Njuba, a presidential advisor of no ordinary kind. Probably because of her advice, someone is about to reveal data about the top chair, which God forbid, may water down all pres
Friday Uganda v Scotland RONALD Semanda damaged his ribs while fielding and has been ruled out of Uganda s game with Scotland in the plate championship of the ICC U-19 youth World Cup here on Friday. The injury has left Uganda s technical bench helpless with youngsters Emmanuel Nakana and Daniel Ruyange also unlikely t
MOTHER-to-child transmission of the HIV virus - during pregnancy, childbirth, or through breast-feeding - is a painful part of South Africa s AIDS crisis and has led to some concern over Ithemba Lethu s focus on breast milk. Olive Shisana, the head of South Africa s Human Sciences Research Council and a leading HIV/AID
THE education ministry has directed schools to stop retiring HIV positive teachers. The assistant commissioner for personnel, John Baptist Semakula, yesterday said living with HIV/AIDS did not weaken one s teaching ability. No school, headteacher, or district manager has the authority to retire a teacher who is HIV-pos
CONDOM distribution in Uganda has been simplified with the importation of over 2000 hi-tech condom vending machines from China . The first batch of the condom ATMs , which operate using sh500 coins, are soon to be installed at different spots in the city and its suburbs before spreading upcountry. Qiu Xue Yong, man
THE Ministry of Health and the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) have launched a strategy to distribute anti-retroviral therapy (ART) countrywide. The ceremony was presided over by the acting Director General of Health Services, Dr. Sam Okware, at Hotel Africana on Friday. Okware said there were 75,000 people on AR
During my primary school days, our senior woman used to emphasise the need to keep our underwears and the vagina clean to avoid odour. She taught us to use the index finger to clean inside our vaginas. Three decades today, I still use my index fingure to clean the inside of my vagina, says Eunice, a communications offi
THE national procurement and distribution of condoms strategy will be instituted this year to curb HIV infection. Uganda AIDS Commission chief Dr. David Kihumuro Apuuli on Wednesday said, We need to think of starting strategies of streamlining prevention to accompany the treatment and care of the sick and this is just
BETWEEN 47% and 60% of sex workers are infected with HIV, the acting Director General of health services, Dr. Sam Okware, has said. Addressing a press conference at the ministry on Tuesday, he said there has been confusion over the ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use) strategy. He was announcing the outbreak of
RETIRED Mityana Diocese Bishop Wilson Mutebi has blamed the increasing HIV/AIDS rate in the Church on the generosity of female Christians. Virginity is every woman s pride. Men also want to marry virgins but this is now mythical. Female Christians are too generous. They give in to even useless men, allowing them to pla
SING Against AIDS organisation has embarked on a programme of sensitising youth on preventive measures against HIV/AIDS with the help of local musicians. Speaking at the launch of the Sing Against AIDS music competitions in Jinja town hall on Saturday, Oscar Katumwa said the objectives of the competition were to direct
THE United Kingdom s Department for International Development has contributed $11.8m to emergency health, nutrition and HIV/AIDS programmes in northern Uganda , reports Cyprian Musoke. A statement from the World Health Organisation, the UN Children s Fund and the UN Fund for Population Activities, estimated that the fu
INTERNATIONAL Air Ambulance (IAA) has donated 10,000 HIV-testing kits to a Makerere University organisation, Fight Against Aids (FAA). The kits will be used by students during the Afro-Stone Bazaar, which will start on February 4. The Afro-Stone Bazaar is intended to encourage students and visitors to be proactive in t
TREMENDOUS efforts must be put in place if Uganda is to win the war over HIV/AIDS, the Uganda AIDS Commission director general, Dr. David Kihumuro Apuuli, has said. The national HIV/AIDS sero-status survey report 2005, released at Speke Resort Munyonyo yesterday, shows that Uganda seems to be losing the battle against
STEPHEN Lewis foundation based in Canada has donated sh142m for education of orphans and vulnerable children in Njeru town council in Mukono district. The funds from the foundation headed by the United Nations envoy on HIV/AIDS, Stephen Lewis, were disbursed to St. Francis Health Care Services, a community-based organi
THE SOS Herman Gmeiner health centre in Gulu children s village has received 4,800 pieces of rapid HIV/AIDS testing kits worth $9,600 (sh17.8m) from Campus Alliance to Wipe out AIDS (CAWA). Handing over the kits to SOS officials at the health centre on Tuesday, CAWA officer Andrew Agaba said, The donation was in recogn
THE US government stopped the trial of AlDS drugs last week aimed at finding out whether patients could take breaks from treatment, saying people were much more likely to become ill or die if they took breaks. The trial quickly showed that patients do better when they continuously take the drugs, said the National Inst
An American congressman has commended the voluntary work done by Ugandans in helping HIV/AIDS orphans access education. These children wouldn t have got education, had it not been for the tireless efforts of different organisations that have come to their rescue. There should be continuous sensitisation campaigns about
WHAT is left to say of a music group that has been highly exalted in every American State they have visited; where the effects of their traditional music and dance is known to linger for eternity? What is left to say of an ensemble that the New York Times acclaimed as first rate and inspiring , a group that was selecte
CANADIAN charity Feed the Children has donated drugs worth about 50,000 Canadian dollars (sh70m) to the Pediatrics Infectious Disease Clinic (PIDC) of Mulago Hospital. The drugs, which were delivered in a 40-feet container, are meant for 2,600 children infected with HIV and another 400 exposed to the virus. The organis
Uganda now has more HIV-positive people than it can treat the Chief Executive Officer of pharmaceutical company Pfizer , Hank McKinnell has said. McKinnell said during the opening of an HIV/AIDS clinic in Mbarara that according to a successful HIV testing campaign, about 1.2 million of Uganda s 26 million people are
BARCLAYS Bank has given sh9.4m it collected from the Miles Ahead campaign to World Vision to help HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in the country. Emma Mugisha, the head of the treasury at Barclays, handed over the cheque to Fortunate Ssewankambo, the acting director of World Vision, in Kampala recently. Mugi
YOUTH should abandon using condoms and abstain from sex, the Kinkizi Diocese Bishop has said. Addressing youth leaders at Nyakatare Church of Uganda , Ntegyereize said the diocese started a programme on reproductive health for adolescents in 1999 to enlighten the youth on the dangers of early marriage and pre-marital s
FOR Beatrice Were, 2005 was a year of recognition. 2005 was when the work she has been doing since 1993 was recognised by the British Council. She won an award for Professional Woman of the Year. Death struck just when she had begun life. In 1991, she lost her husband to HIV/AIDS. It was the aftermath of this death tha
SAFE Motherhood Initiative (SMI) has got a grant over sh290m to fight TB from Fund for Initiative Dots Expansion Local Initiatives (FIDELIS). SMI secretary Dr. Josephine Kasolo said the project would cover Kabale, Mayuge, Wakiso, Mpigi, Iganga, Bugiri districts and train over 400 SMI assistants. Kasolo said the assista
A MAKERERE University student-based NGO wowed the Global Fund probe, presenting impressive accountability of how they spent sh43m to spread the abstinence message to students. The administrator of the Campus Alliance to Wipe-out AIDS (CAWA), James Okurut, drew applause from the dumb-struck commissioners. With razor-sha
The army yesterday criticised former UN Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu for accusing the UPDF of carrying out genocide against the population in northern Uganda . Otunnu, the former Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, accused the UPDF of screening its soldiers and deploying only those living wit
RECENT data presented by the Ministry of Health at a Uganda Aids Commission conference revealed interesting details about the prevalence of HIV infection among various groups within Uganda. The data, presented by Dr. Alex Opio, was compiled from ante-natal clinics and sero-behavioural studies and the Uganda AIDS Indica
The most daring thing I ever did was to leave my girlfriend in Silk for an hour, while I had sex with a prostitute in a half-built house, George said remorsefully. George was a 35-year-old client of mine. Apart from drinking a lot, there was nothing to show that he was a sex addict. He had slept with more women than he
THOUGH some people call Bushenyi a model district, it lacks some vital services. Sheema North MP Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye said Bushenyi district hospitals do not have X-ray machines. He said patients move from the district to Mbarara to look for X-ray services. The MP said, Most of the HIV/AIDS patients die of tuberculosi
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has extended the period of the commission investigating the mismanagement of the Global Fund on Aids, TB and Malaria for four months up to April. The commission, chaired by Justice James Ogoola, has interviewed over 60 witnesses in public hearings and was originally meant to hand over their re
SINCE 1992-3, despite the pain and death on a personal level, as a country Uganda has had almost exclusively good news on HIV. First, prevalence declined from about 18% to 6%, the biggest decline of any country ever. Second, in the late 1990s ARVs arrived: We now have more people on ARVs than any other African country
THE Family Planning Association of Uganda (FPAU) has earmarked sh149.5m to combat the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS among young and hard-to-reach groups in Mbarara Municipality. FPAU gender and youth coordinator Diana Opolot said a big percentage of the total budget would go to counselling and dissemination of HIV/AIDS m
The family tragedy started in 1991, leaving real deep wounds. A husband and a son dead due to AIDS and a mother living in agony of not knowing what happened to her other son who vanished suddenly due to the AIDS stigma. All this happened in a spate of five years. Agnes Nyamayarwo, 52, tells her story calmly. The calm t
THOUGH women empowerment in this country remains a slow, painful struggle, as the year 2005 slams its doors, we cannot ignore the achievements so far made and the fact that there is something for women to be proud of. Most of the women activists Women s Vision talked to expressed excitement at the progress so far made
FIRST Lady Janet Museveni has re-echoed her call for sexual abstinence among the youth as the most effective safeguard against the HIV scourge. Closing a youth conference on the pandemic at St Emmanuel Cathedral Rushere, Kiruhura district on Saturday, Janet advised the youth to guard themselves against temptations, a s
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