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Ministry releases new Aids treatment guidelines

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The State Minister for Health in charge of General Duties Sarah Achieng Opendi, has today launched the consolidated guidelines for the prevention and treatment of HIV/Aids in Uganda.

Speaking at the function at the headquarters of the ministry of Health in Kampala, minister Opendi said project will reduce substantial AIDS-related deaths and new infections by 2030.

She said the ministry is releasing a new circular to all health facilities to ensure a smooth roll out of the new guidelines. The new guidelines replace those released in 2013, where only those infected with HIV with advanced opportunistic diseases were eligible for antiretroviral treatment.

The only exception under the 2013 guidelines were children under age of 15, lactating mothers, TB/HIV and HIV/HBV co-infected individuals, HIV-infected individuals in sore-discordant relationships and HIV infected individuals that were among key populations.

“This will require all facility staff to acquire training in the new guidelines and also ensure that they are supported with requisition of adequate stock of antiretroviral drugs to meet the slightly added demand for ARVs,” the minister said, before blaming some medical practitioners for administering wrong medical prescriptions to AIDS patient on ARV treatment.

Speaking at the same function the UNAIDS regional director for eastern and southern Africa professor Sheila Tlou noted that new infections among young children and adolescent girls had decreased significantly.

She noted that in order to achieve the SDG target of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, there was need to address gender inequality, gender based violence with includes sexual violence and sexual exploitation “which are all core to young woman’s vulnerability.”

She noted that the HIV/Aids most-at-risk groups include among others fishermen and women, long distance truck drivers, female sex workers and drug users.

“Short of an HIV vaccine or cure, test and treat is one of the critical tools we need to create an Aids-free generation,” Dr Tlou said, adding that expanding access to treatment is at the Heart of the UNAIDS ‘Fast-Track’ approach to achieve the 90-90-90 targets set for 2020 with the aim of ending the AIDS Epidemic by 2030.

“These targets include 90% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status; 90% of those receiving ARV treatment, and 90% of people on ART having no detectable virus in their blood,” she said.

Meanwhile, Minister Opendi announced that this year’s World Aids Day commemoration on December 1 will take place on Kalangala Islands, with President Yoweri Museveni expected to be the chief guest.

 

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