Kampala — 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 meningitis in Nakapiripirit and Moroto districts and clarified on recent press reports that HIV rates had gone up in adults. Present was the assistant commissioner National Disease Control, Dr. Alex Opio.

Okware said, "ABC is a package. You can't say I am taking only one. You must have all the options at the same time."

He said abstinence could only work when someone is not married.

"After you get married, you just go to B (Be faithful)," he said.

He said condoms were very important in the era of anti-retroviral drugs.

"We have a larger pool of discordant couples," he said.