Sebana tips mayors on HIV/AIDS funding

By Cecilia Okoth

Former Kampala Mayor John Sebana Kizito has asked mayors and municipal leaders to generate their own revenue to fight HIV/AIDS in their respective communities.
            
The leaders, who met under their umbrella "Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders' Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level" (AMICAALL) in Kampala Tuesday, were discussing how to re-engage local government leaders for effective HIV/AIDS response in their communities.
           
Sebana, who is a founder member of AMICAALL, Uganda Chapter, said that since the body mostly gets its funds from donors who have since cut funding on HIV/AIDS, they should consider engaging Local Government for more funding and getting resources from their various areas.
           
"HIV/AIDS is a stubborn disease and is still a big problem in the country. Therefore effective leadership and resource mobilisation is crucial," He said.

Sebana said unlike its inception, today, the umbrella boasts of 22 municipalities and 174 Town Councils.

Last year, MPs and women rights activists for people living with HIV/AIDS, under their umbrella body the Pan-African Positive women's coalition (PAPWC) asked Government to set up a special trust fund on HIV/AIDS to finance HIV/AIDS programs in the country to prevent over reliance on donors.

The women activists said Uganda needed to have a special fund on HIV/AIDS to take care of the HIV/AIDS positive Ugandans in the event that donors withdraw funding.

Titus Twesige, AMICAALL's Country Director expressed fear that they may be a reduced funding for HIV/AIDS this year since donors are focusing more on Non Communicable Diseases that have since claimed the lives of many in recent times.

"We are looking at innovative ways of getting funding since most mayors own resources and private entities in their towns that generate income," He said.

Twesige who was speaking on the sidelines in an interview said in the past, mayors only drew their attention to garbage collection and installing lights in their towns. "The never used to focus on HIV/AIDS."

Ministry of Health statistics show that Uganda has 1. 2 million people living with HIV/ AIDS and, while 577, 000 of them are in need of ART, only 310, 000 access treatment.

Apparently, people with mild HIV (stage 1 and 2) may not require ART, but are recommended to start when it is severe (stages 3 and 4). The World Health Organisation recommends ART when CD4 is at 350.
           
Joseph Lomilo a former mayor of Moroto from 1996 to 2011 said insecurity in the region escalated HIV/AIDS. He also said they were not receiving Anti- retroviral (ARVs) treatment that helps prevent HIV-transmission and decrease in new infections.
           
Johnson Muyanja Ssenyonga the Mayor Mukono municipality said they have gone ahead to distribute condoms in areas that are more prone to HIV/AIDS like night clubs, bars, markets and among motor cyclists.
           
He however said the sh10m they get from Government and Uganda AIDS Commission is not enough to cater for the council that has 47 big industries and a population of over 50,000 workers who hail from various regions but settle in Mukono.