Mainstreaming HIV services in Universities

By Paul wanaye

trueBeing a university freshman is an exciting time for any young person, but many students get carried away, partying too hard and taking sexual risks. It’s a chance to experience life; there is no family, there are no restraints.

Some use it in a good way but some do risky things, such as chewing khat [a mild stimulant], having [unprotected sex] and using commercial sex workers.”

As the HIV and AIDS epidemic unfolds, it poses increasingly complex development issues for countries. An effective

response requires timeliness, scale, inclusiveness, partnerships, innovation and responsiveness. In other words, to stay on top of the rapidly evolving epidemics, actions need to be “mainstreamed” - incorporated into normal operations while still seeking innovations and new partnerships.

Mainstreaming HIV and AIDS into national development processes remains a key approach to addressing both the

direct and indirect causes of the HIV epidemic. By ensuring the integration of planning, resource development and program delivery, mainstreaming enables a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder response to the epidemic. Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS focuses on how each sector should respond based on its particular niche and role.

There is a need to mainstream HIV and AIDS into the core functions and operations of higher education institutions

and to increase the overall relevance of the epidemic into all such institutions. In the context of a higher education

institution, it may mean looking at how the epidemic

To respond to these circumstances, government, in partnership with AIDS service organizations,

university leaders, and other supporting organizations, need to develope a “minimum service package” to support comprehensive and continual HIV and STI prevention among the students, faculty, and staff, and to strengthen Uganda’s HIV mainstreaming guidelines.

The writer is a carear-HIVAIDS activists