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Ugandan youths living with HIV have said peer counselling is a practical coping mechanism for them, which is also helping them stave off stigma.

Often times, stigma is known to potentially lead to feelings of shame, fear of disclosure and despair among people living with HIV.

On Friday, when Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate World AIDS Day, young people from different parts of the country gathered at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Entebbe municipality for an interactive engagement on matters HIV.

The platform offered them an opportunity to express opinions and exchange ideas on ways of reducing the HIV prevalence in Uganda.

According to the recent statistics from the Uganda AIDS Commission, about 52,000 new HIV infections and 17,000 AIDS-related deaths occur every year.

These new infections are occurring among the young girls and women between the age of 15 and 24 years. 

In Entebbe, 30-year-old Jonathan Mubiru said he found it easier to open up about his HIV status after seeing a fellow young people do the same.

"I have since embraced the idea of peer counseling," he said.

"I found it to offer better results because youths easily share about their health status to fellow youths or with someone they can easily relate with."

According to Mubiru, peer counseling works nearly the same way young people interact amongst each other about sports or movies.

"Therefore, if the youths are equipped with the right information about HIV and AIDS, it becomes very easy for them to pass on such information to fellows without necessarily having a structured meeting or counseling session."

Ruth Nassali, 28, said HIV prevalence is still high among young people because the message targeting them is not packaged well.

She suggested that information about HIV and AIDS should be packaged in forms of entertainment such as songs and plays, which youths can easily grasp.

"For example, it is a public secret that most of the youths are sexually active. So, the type of counseling demanding them to abstain until marriage may not work. But rather, how to play it safe as they keep up with their medication," she said.

Nassali also said many youths currently abuse drugs in different forms, which does not sync well with HIV medication.

She, therefore, advised that a better approach be fronted on how the youths can socialize without necessarily having to abuse drugs.

Eddie Tumutenderize, whose parents died just weeks after he was born, narrated the hardships he endured while growing up with HIV.

Referring to himself as a living testimony to proper medication, he urged his peers to embrace their status and stick to proper medication.

He decried the stigma in some communities, saying it bars many youths from coming out about their HIV status, which leads to some secretly spreading the virus.

'Challenges still exist'

The World Health Organization says that globally, 9.2 million people do not have access to the HIV treatment that they need.

Each day, 1,700 lives are lost from HIV-related causes, and 3,500 people are infected, with many not knowing their status or having access to treatment.

The 95-95-95 targets aim for 95% of people living with HIV knowing their status, 95% of those diagnosed receiving antiretroviral therapy and 95% of those on treatment having suppressed viral loads — by the year 2030.

"Despite significant success in identifying the 95% of people living with HIV and initiating 95% of these on anti-retroviral treatment, challenges still exist in achieving viral load suppression in 95% of people living with HIV on treatment, especially among children and adolescents," said Dennis Ssesanga, a researcher under UVRI.

Erina Wanyama Chemongesi, the community and stakeholder engagement lead, on the East Africa point of Care load monitoring study while interacting with some of the youths living with HIV.

Erina Wanyama Chemongesi leads the community and stakeholder engagements on the project of East Africa point of care load monitoring study.

She said community and public engagement workshops and youth competitions were site-centred.

The engagements were conducted from September to November with the objective of engaging the youths for knowledge transfer on the modalities of viral load for improved suppression.

"The engagements also aimed at developing an approach to enhance the public understanding of the science of viral load monitoring for improved suppression as well as promoting youth-led engagements and advocacy on developments in HIV service delivery," said Chemongesi.

She was keen to express concern over the increased HIV prevalence among the youths.