Non-profit agencies accused of stealing blood from the Karimojong

Mr John Lokol, an elder from Pupu village claimed that some NGO officials have taken his blood samples for four times but they have failed to give him the results.

A cross-section of Karimojong in Moroto District have accused several non- governmental organisations working to fight HIV/Aids in the region of stealing their blood in the name of carrying out HIV/Aids tests.

The Karimojong mainly elderly men and women Monday told a consultative meeting at Rupa Sub County in Moroto District that several NGOs have been taking blood samples under the cover of voluntary testing and counselling but failed to avail results to their clients.

Mr John Lokol, an elder from Pupu village claimed that some NGO officials have taken his blood samples for four times but they have failed to give him the results.

He, however, did not name the officials and the agencies they work for.

“It’s unfortunate that we don’t know how to read the stickers on their vehicles but they always come with sodas begging us to allow them take our blood samples but they don’t tell us the outcome of the tests,” he said.

Ms Magret Nachele, a mother of seven, said the behaviour of the NGOs has scared residents from HIV testing.

She urged TASO which organised the meeting, to set up a counselling centre in Rupa Sub County to avoid some unscrupulous people from “playing with their blood.”

“Our life is hard. Sometimes we spend days without a meal. The little blood we have should not be misused,” she said.

Ms Noerine Kaleeba, the founder of TASO said it is wrong for the NGOs to take blood samplea from people and disappear with them.

This reporter sought the opinion of Moroto District health director Dr Michael Omeke Ebele but failed since his could not pick his calls.

Spreading the word about HIV is not easy in Karamoja, where open discussions about sex are extremely unusual and the population is largely uneducated. HIV treatment and care services are still low in the region.

Just five hospitals serve seven districts and a population of 1.2 million scattered over some 28,000 square kilometres. Few health workers are keen to live in the remote and underdeveloped region.

Most health centres in the region do not have clinical officers trained to provide life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs or offer HIV care and treatment. Kaabong District for example, has five health facilities, but only the district hospital has a medical officer authorised to treat HIV-positive patients, and the hospital does not have a CD4 machine to test blood samples and measure immune strength.