People with HIV face food shortage, ask for government help
Kampala- People living with HIV under their association of National Forum of People Living with HIV/Aids Networks in Uganda (NAFOPHANU) have asked government to consider them as a special category when distributing food.
Ms Stella Kentutsi, the executive director NAFOPHANU, yesterday said they are facing food shortage yet they cannot take ARVs when they are hungry.
Ms Kentutsi added that some people had stopped taking ARVs which might cause drug resistance.
“It has been a big problem because there are regions that already have a problem with food such as Karamoja so they are shunning ARVs because they do not have much to eat and when you take ARVs on an empty stomach, the effects are terrible,” she said.
Ms Kentutsi said although some districts such as Mpigi, Gulu, Hoima, among others, have received some food , they have asked the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to consider other districts as well.
However, Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the OPM spokesperson, said relief food is still being distributed to the vulnerable groups where people living with HIV fall.
“Relief food has been and is being distributed to the most vulnerable people affected by the lockdown measures in Kampala and Wakiso as the President guided. I believe that people living with HIV fall under that category and will receive supplies accordingly. I am not aware that they have been discriminated against in any form because this food is given out door-to-door,” Mr Mucunguzi said yesterday.
Dr Joshua Musinguzi, the head of the HIV/Aids programme at Ministry of Health, said the taskforce has been prioritising vulnerable households, adding that discussions with different stakeholders are under way.
Dr Musinguzi said there is an ongoing discussion between Global fund and Ministry of Health regarding supporting the Covid-19 response particularly to the HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria programme.
As of 2018, UAC data shows 1,400,000 people were living with the HIV/Aids.
Out of that number, government has enrolled 1,167,107 on treatment. An estimated 900 HIV/Aids cases were reported by 1986 in Uganda and in a space of two years, more than 6,000 people were diagnosed with the viral disease.
