Guard against regression in the HIV/Aids fight
A man sitting on a motorbike catches condoms from a health worker delivering free condoms on the international condom day, in the streets of Kampala on February 13, 2021. Photo | File
What you need to know:
- Sadly now, statistics show that the Condom strategy is underperforming. More young people are getting infected so abstinence is not working well either.
The Director General of the Uganda Aids Commission in an engagement with church leaders this week made the revelation that condom use had dropped by 100 million from 300 million to 200 million amid increasing HIV infections. Condoms were a key pillar in the ABC (Abstinence, Be Faithful, use Condoms) strategy of HIV prevention. Sadly now, statistics show that the Condom strategy is underperforming. More young people are getting infected so abstinence is not working well either.
Between the late 1980s and 1990s, Uganda embarked on a vigorous campaign to combat the HIV scourge that had ravaged the country, wiping out many households. The HIV fight saw many innovations in medicine and communication that were credited with keeping HIV/Aids at bay. Uganda became a success story and a case study in the control of HIV. After more than 30 years, with many resources devoted towards rolling back HIV spread, it is disheartening to discover that prevention efforts such as condom use are coming undone. It is not clear if the condom decline has to do with low supply or absence of demand.
The findings of an analysis released by The Alan Guttmacher Institute in November 2003, A, B and C in Uganda: The Roles of Abstinence, Monogamy and Condom Use in HIV Decline, between 1988 and 1995 when HIV spread was declining, a lot of behaviour change happened. According to this study, condom use among unmarried men between 1989 and 1995 rose from two per cent to 22 per cent and fewer people were having sex at younger ages. All the behaviour changes advocated by the government, religious leaders and civil organisations produced tangible results and HIV prevalence came down from double digits to single digits.
It begs the question of what has changed and where the HIV control systems have lagged between the mid-1990s and today. According to the Uganda Aids Commission, an estimated 380,000 new infections occur every year, with the majority being young women and adolescent girls aged 15-24. This shows that we have regressed to the mid-1990s when studies showed there were fewer people having sex at a younger age. Defilement, teenage pregnancy and early marriages are far from contained and are on the upsurge in particular districts of the country. The relevant authorities should return to the drawing board and critically examine current strategies as opposed to what worked in the past.
