Uganda To Launch New National HIV/AIDS Campaign

Ugandan officials last week announced that the government will soon launch a new national HIV/AIDS campaign, the Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports. Director General of the Uganda AIDS Commission Dr. Kihumore Apuuli, speaking Friday at a one-day workshop for civil society organizations, said that the new campaign will focus on changing Ugandans' behavior, promoting condom use in rural areas and controlling and managing sexually transmitted diseases (Kulubya, Monitor/AllAfrica.com, 4/26). Apuuli said the campaign will also focus on preventing HIV vertical transmission, increasing voluntary HIV testing and counseling, increasing availability of care for AIDS orphans and other children affected by HIV/AIDS and providing antiretroviral drugs. According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will provide $36.3 million over two years and the World Bank will provide $47.5 million over five years to fund the new campaign. Apuuli also called on civil society organizations to assist the program by fostering HIV/AIDS awareness and identifying potential beneficiaries. "We cannot defeat the AIDS pandemic unless we involve civil society organizations," Apuuli said. AIDS prevalence among Ugandan adults is currently 6.1%, down from 30% a decade earlier, according to Xinhua (Xinhua News Agency, 4/26).