In a bid to curb the spike in new HIV infections especially among adolescents and young women, government will distribute more condoms and also engage men.

“When you engage men one of the solutions you implement through men is by distribution of condoms. It is the men who go to look for women, as such they will not infect those young girls,” the director planning and strategic information at Uganda AIDS Commission, Dr. Vincent Bagambe has said.

This year, the government through condom programing distributed a total of 141 million condoms. Unfortunately, it was a reduction compared to 189 million condoms that were distributed last year. This according to Dr. Bagambe is a clear indicator that more people are having unprotected sex.

He said there is a need to intensify public sensitization to ensure that people increasingly use condoms.  

As per the condom programming, the target is to distribute about 250 million condoms each year to ensure people are protected.

“At 141 million condoms distributed means we did not do well,” Dr. Bagambe said.

A lady sorting through condoms

What went wrong?

Dr. Bagambe further noted that it is not about a stock-out. Condoms were available, condom dispensers even in bars, but the issue is complacency, where people are not using condoms which causes a lot of worry.

He said condoms are distributed according to demand. “We have distribution points or condom dispensers and we only refill after they have been used,”. As such, Dr. Bagambe said there is a need to create demand so that people are using condoms and the distribution increases.  

New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths stagnate

The intervention is geared towards fighting new HIV infections and AIDS–related deaths that seem to have stagnated over the last four years.

The just released Annual Joint AIDS Review Report 2022/23 indicated that there has been a declining trend in the new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths from 2019/20 baseline of 54,000 and 21,000 to 51,516 and 17,337 respectively in 2022/23.

 However, there has been a stagnation between 2021/22 and 2022/23, consequently calling for more efforts to reach epidemic control.

Based on the Epi-data country estimates for the financial year 2022, HIV prevalence among the adult population (15-49 years) has reduced to 5.1% by 2022 from 5.2% in 2021.

The JAR report 2022/23 also shows that adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) bear the burden of new HIV infections, consequently, contributing 36% of new infections in adults aged 15 to 49 years. This translates into about 18,546 new HIV infections that happened among adolescent girls aged between 15 to 24.

Director planning and strategic information at Uganda AIDS Commission, Dr.  Vincent Bagambe blamed the poor HIV indicators among young girls and women on vulnerability given that they consider men as their source of income.

Having programmes empowering the young girls or keeping them in school and educating them about HIV transmission and its dangers is the best way to protect them against the acquisition of HIV, Dr. Bagambe said

Not yet out of the woods

Although the country registered a slight drop in the number of new HIV infections by 2,484 and AIDS–related deaths by 4000, the head of HIV prevention at Uganda AIDS Commission, Dr Daniel Byabakama said it is not good enough to enable the country to attain the commitment of ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

“If we are really on track of ending HIV by 2030, we should be registering less than 2,000 new HIV infections per year,” Byabakama said.

Currently, the country is recording more than 51,000 new HIV infections per year which is unacceptably high.

Dr. Byamukama blamed it on high risky behaviors including multi-sexual partnerships, both men and women engaging in extramarital affairs, increasing number of young people initiating sexual encounters as early as 15 years.

He said a significant number of new HIV infections are happening among adolescent girls and young women which squarely stems from the problem of parenting.

Dr. Bagambe also blamed its messages focusing on protection against HIV transmission not reaching young people.   

As such, he urged the parents not to abandon their responsibility of guiding the children and sensitizing them about HIV transmission and its related dangers.