We still have a long way to go in the war against Aids!

Nov 30, 2003

SIR— The recent Aids award that was given to President Museveni by the African-American Institute on behalf of the people of Uganda was a fitting tribute to the efforts that Ugandans have put in, in taming an epidemic that had threatened to overwhelm the country

SIR— The recent Aids award that was given to President Museveni by the African-American Institute on behalf of the people of Uganda was a fitting tribute to the efforts that Ugandans have put in, in taming an epidemic that had threatened to overwhelm the country.

From the time when that scourge made its unwelcome entry into the country and led to the death of scores of terrified and unprepared people, to the current situation when Aids is treated more or less like an ordinary albeit incurable disease, is a long way indeed.

At that time, the place was awash with stories of crazy and infected men and women going about raping others at gunpoint or luring them with large sums of money into unprotected sex, or of business people injecting foodstuffs with infected blood.

At one time, the country was rated as the third highest as far the Aids infection rate was concerned. For many, this was the long awaited end of the world as we know it. It was a time when Aids was not a disease but a synonym for death.

Clearly, something had to be done to halt this disease that had made marriage look like a pact with death and sex about as safe as peeing on a transformer.

It was here that President Museveni rose to the occasion with his revolutionary way to halt the dread disease: mobilise all the available resources and engage all the population in the fight against the epidemic even if it meant dragging sex out in the open.

The award is recognition, in part, of what that policy has managed to achieve. Uganda is now held up in the entire world as the pattern country as far as fighting Aids is concerned. No mean achievement, I might add, for a country with such meagre resources.

But as we bask in international acclaim, it is as well we recognise that the battle is far from over. A lot still needs to be done, for Aids is still as deadly as ever and still has no cure.

Recently, medical students went to Zana just outside south Kampala to sensitise the public on the dangers of malaria. After a long lecture on the transmission, spread and prevention of malaria it was time for questions.

Pointing to a large picture of a mosquito on a poster, one smartly dressed gentleman remarked, “We do appreciate your efforts to help us fight malaria, but we are very lucky because the mosquitoes here are not as big as that one shown on the poster.”

There are stories of couples who after attending anti-Aids sensitisation messages go back home, wrap a condom around any convenient item, place it in their room and go about their business secure in the knowledge that they have a powerful charm to protect them against ‘slim’. With such monumental ignorance in our midst it is all too clear that the fight is far from over.

Stephen Nakonya
Nakonya_S@hotmail.com

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