In the next few weeks National Perspective will bring you the story of HIV/AIDS in Uganda through the years. December 1 is World Aids Day and this series will focus on how Uganda has coped with the epidemic through the years.
The first edition focuses on the history of HIV/AIDS in Uganda.
In 1982, the first AIDS case in Uganda was diagnosed and the link between ‘slim disease’ and AIDS was clinically recognised but it had to take several years before a major prevention programme was initiated.
By 1987 the country’s HIV prevalence was almost 30 percent when the AIDS Control Program was launched in response to the disease then causing havoc in both rural and urban Uganda.
The AIDS Control Program then based its prevention effort by promoting the ABC approach – abstain, be faithful, use condoms. The ABC, which was quickly copied by several countries around the world also ensured the safety of the blood supply.
In this National Perspective as Uganda joins the rest of the World to mark World AIDS, we tell the story of HIV/AIDS then from the perspective of eminent Ugandans who confronted HIV at the time when there was little scientific knowledge around the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
In the Next edition of HIV at 30 we tell the story of the AIDS Support Organisation and how it contributed in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Uganda.
