A glimpse of hope to beat the HIV/AIDS scourge

HEALTH|HIV

HIV/AIDS was first recognised in Uganda in 1983, with about 900 cases reported by 1986. This rose to 6,000 cases by 1988. Uganda responded by taking an open stance to the epidemic and was among the first African countries to establish a national AIDS Control Programme (ACP) and the National Committee for the Prevention of AIDS (NCPA).

Uganda achieved a lot in the fight against HIV/AIDS because of the policies, such as the ACP and NCPA, which were later adopted by other countries.

There is also the multi-sectoral approach, which is a big success in the HIV fight, the reason Uganda is hailed as a leader in fighting HIV. There was a time in the 1980s when Uganda had a high HIV prevalence of 30% for the worst hit places, though an average for the country was 18%.

Several campaigns creating awareness about HIV/AIDS on radios and in newspapers, led by President Yoweri Museveni were kicked off.

Policies, such as HIV counselling and testing, mother-to-child transmission of HIV policy, which has reduced substantially to about 95% because of getting HIVpositive mothers on treatment after they are diagnosed. One key policy, which is recent, but follows through other policies is the test and treat policy.

As soon as one is found to be HIV-positive, treatment must be started immediately. This has changed the way HIVpositive people are being treated. In the past, people were not put on treatment, until they first got sick as evidenced by their declining CD4 count and when the CD4 count reached a certain level of deterioration.

The policy is also helping to reduce transmission to other people, if somebody adheres to treatment and the viral load is undetectable, they have reduced risk of transmitting HIV to another person. Recent results show that the HIV prevalence is at 6%, from 7.3%.

However, some people have argued that it would be better to delay at least a week, to initiate treatment, rather than giving treatment immediately. People who take the drugs say on the fi rst day, one may not be psychologically ready since they have just known their status and need more time.

Other policies in HIV include the 90-90- 90, at least 90% of all people living with HIV should be tested, 90% of all infected people get on treatment, and 90% of all those on treatment achieve viral suppression (undetectable) level.

Self- testing

People can test themselves by using approved kits, if they are afraid to go to the hospital. Monitoring people's viral load (amount of virus in one's blood stream) also means that more accurate information as to whether treatment is succeeding or resistance is emerging so that timely action can be taken is being got.

There is also the provider initiated testing policy, which came in the early 2000. After realising that there were many people going through health facilities untested and yet many were HIV-positive, the Government saw it as a missed opportunity to identify the infections much earlier, to start people on treatment. There was a study that showed that half the people who started treatment on the provider initiated testing policy, helped to reduce spreading new infections.