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Uganda: More Women Seek Taso Services
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The Weekly Observer (Kampala)
1 May 2008
Posted to the web 1 May 2008
Michael Mubangizi
More women compared to men are seeking the services of The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), reveals the organisation's 2007 report, released recently.
Some of the services offered by TASO include counseling, enrollment on Antiretroviral Therapy, and recruitment of new clients, among others.
In its eleven service centres spread across the country, TASO registered 23,800 new clients-(15,323 females, 8477 males) last year.
But overall, the number of newly registered members last year was higher than that of 2006 which was 21,066.
Some counselors working with TASO who preferred anonymity attributed the decline to emergence of various organisations which offer similar services--organisations such as the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) and the Mildmay Centre.
Of those registered in 2007, 8,000 were aged between 20-51 years, an indication perhaps that the scourge was affecting more people in this age-bracket.
There were less than 1,000 patients above 60 years. According to the report, most of the new members (55%) came from rural areas or 20 km from TASO centres, located in urban areas and towns.
For this category of members, Soroti (3,617) had the highest numbers, followed closely by Mbale (2,625), Gulu (2,393) and Tororo (2,180).
Counseling
The report also reveals that more women than men sought counseling services last year. Of the 59,949 people counseled, 41,962 were female and 17,987 male.
The report also said that 91% of the people counselled revealed their status to their relatives, friends, neighbours and the general public.
The disclosure, the report said, was meant to facilitate care, support and prevention efforts.
The report also revealed that 25,558 TASO clients were sexually active, of whom 97% revealed their status to someone else.
Also, of these 7,734 (31%) revealed their status to their sexual partners.
ARV treatment
As regards Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), out of 27, 390 clients screened for ART eligibility, 8,076 people were found to be eligible. At 323 (4.5%), the enrollment of children for ART remained low.
"The challenges lay in testing children for HIV, and inadequacy of HIV testing services for children, the unwillingness of some parents and guardians to take their children for ART screening," the report notes.
However, many of the members due for ART did not adhere strictly to it for a number of reasons not given in the report.
TASO Spokesman, Robert Nakibumba, said: "The majority of people default because of death and lack of contact with people like in war areas where they move to IDP camps, making it difficult for them to access services and for TASO to access them."
Commenting on why more women embrace TASO activities than men, Nakibumba said this was an international trend and it could be because "women are free and own up to responsibilities more than men."
More men
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Yet there was at least one aspect where men were more involved than women--the aspect of drama. According to the report, men unlike women, embraced drama activities which were performed on television and radios aimed at educating people about HIV/AIDS.
The report said 928 drama shows were held in market places, schools, trading centres, churches, mosques and other social places, aimed at sensitising people about HIV/AIDS.
Last year, TASO also distributed 638,914 condoms in the country.
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