President Yoweri Museveni is set to officiate the commemoration of World Aids Day celebrations.
The revelation was made by Dr Nelson Musoba, the Director General of Uganda Aids Commission.
Under the theme; Ending Aids by 2030, keeping communities at the centre, the day will be marked at Kibaale playground, Kibaale town council Rakai District.
Currently, there are 1.5 million Ugandans living with HIV. The country has registered a significant progress in the fight against HIV and Aids, bringing down HIV prevalence from 18% in the 1980s to 5.2%. The new infections have reduced to 52,000 annually from 94,000 and Aids related deaths have reduced to 17,000 annually.
According to Musoba, there is an increase in the number of people testing from 5,998,431 to 6,860,533 in 2023. Estimated 1,433,337 people living with HIV (PLHIV) as of December 2022 were enrolled on anti-retroviral as of June 2023.
“We acknowledge the exemplary leadership of our President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who steered the campaign to end Aids even when there was no treatment in sight. Museveni continues to consistently talk about raising awareness, spreading HIV prevention messages and fighting,” he said.
He applauded various communities of people living with HIV networks that have been at the forefront of fighting HIV and Aids since the discovery in Uganda. It was the communities that took the patients to hospital, looked after them when others shunned them and cared for the widows and the orphans that they left behind.
Dr Musoba called for addressing stigma and discrimination of PLHIV noting that it causes denial and unnecessary delays in HIV testing, seeking treatment and adherence to medication
“We need to ensure representation of PLHIV at all levels so that they can demand and fulfill their rights. In line with this, I would like to commend the #Covid-19 and Ebola district task forces that ensured people living with HIV were represented on their committees. This spirit of integration should be emulated during similar interventions. I urge all Ugandans to take precaution and protect themselves against HIV,” he stated.
