The government has adopted a strategy to build Health Centre III in every sub-county near a landing site in a bid to improve HIV care services to the people.
This was announced on Sunday, December 1st, 2024, during the International World AIDS Day commemoration held at Bukungu Primary School near the Bukungu landing site in Buyende District by President Museveni, who was the chief at the event.
This year’s theme: Accelerating interventions to end AIDS by 2030.
“Every sub-county that is near a landing site should have Health Centre III to address the high HIV burdens,” the president directed.
According to statistics, landing sites in Uganda have a high HIV prevalence rate.
President Museveni advised young people to ensure maximum discipline if they are to stay safe without contracting the virus.
“Stop this indiscipline, all the Ugandans, the youths living a risky life; you hear the statistics: 39M people living with HIV in the world, and out of those, 1.4 million people are in Uganda, which is a high number,” the president said.
He guided Ugandans to always seek medical attention to test and know their HIV status and start on treatment.
“Test yourselves, and start taking drugs, and do it according to the instructions, although it is not what I prefer for you; it’s better than you dying. You can live longer while on drugs. Once on treatment, you will not be able to transmit the diseases rapidly,” the president said.
Museveni said, “I’m glad our researchers are moving faster towards the vaccine against HIV. They are doing a good job. There are even our children who are threatening to treat HIV completely and kill it. I am going to fund them fully so that they can innovate the drugs.”
“As we are still struggling with the HIV drugs, our people have found the medicine that you take one tab every two months instead of the daily pills. I want to thank our scientists for really doing a good job,” said the President.
Minister for Presidency Babirye Milly Babalanda said the government will also heighten the distribution of HIV campaign messages in the country using the existing structures.
The 2024 estimates show that the national HIV prevalence is 5.1%; new infections have reduced from 83,000 in 2020 to 38,000, AIDS-related deaths reduced from 53,000 to 19,000, and babies with HIV have reduced from 30,000 to 4,700 in just over a decade.
Fort Portal City has the highest prevalence rate in the country at 17.8% due to the new I factions, especially among women and adolescents.
Soroti City has the second highest prevalence rate at 12.5%, Lira City has 12%, Kalangala with 13%, and Kabarole with 11.6%, among others.
