6 July 2009
editorial
Kampala — The AIDS Information Centre (AIC) has launched a sh100b plan to ensure that quality counselling and testing for HIV/AIDS is available to all in the next five years. This is a wise public health strategy. Only 21% of Ugandan adults know their HIV status.
According to AIC statistics, about one million people are infected with HIV while about 1.2 million children have been orphaned by AIDS.
These figures are very conservative because the HIV status of nearly 80% of Ugandans is not known!
It is estimated that about 650,000 Ugandans are unknowingly living with HIV-positive partners and almost 85,000 will be infected this year if nothing is done to increase awareness. Knowledge is power.
HIV is still as deadly as it was in the early 80s when it killed helpless people in droves.
However, with information about how it is spread, how it can be avoided and access to ARVs, it is no longer the death sentence that it used to be. It is, therefore, important that all people know their HIV status so that those infected can start treatment early enough.
Knowing one's HIV status will help discordant couples to protect the uninfected partners or if both partners are infected, it will prevent reinfection. There is no single strategy in HIV prevention that fits the circumstances of everybody but people must be empowered with as much knowledge about HIV/AIDS as possible whether they are infected or not. Starting treatment early enough is cheaper and easier than treating the opportunistic infections that come with full-blown AIDS.
There is medical evidence that people who start on ARVs early do much better than those who start when their immune system has been badly damaged. Against that background, it is important to consider a policy of routinely checking all patients who visit hospitals and health centres in order to nip the effects of HIV/AIDS in the bud.
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