The Ugandan government is striving to address the bottlenecks that continue to undermine the fight against the HIV/AIDS scourge.

HIV/AIDS experts in the country have just concluded an annual conference aimed at reflecting on the country's fight against the deadly disease and designing measures to address the challenges that the country faces in the struggle to fight the scourge.

According to the organizers, the conference dubbed Joint Annual Review on HIV/AIDS 2005 which ended on Friday was held to establish the performance of the national response, through a systematic assessment of actions, approaches and contributions of the various government and non-governmental national stakeholders, international partners and multilateral institutions.

It is a multi-sectoral approach that this east African country is embarking on to intensify the fight against HIV/AIDS.

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is a weakening of the immune system by the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. The victim loses the ability to fight infection, and may fall victim of illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and tumors.

Uganda is already making major success in the fight against this pandemic that greatly devastated its economy and social setup especially in the 1980's and 1990's.

The 2005 Uganda AIDS Indicator Survey conducted recently by the Ministry of Health said the most up-to-date figures indicated a prevalence rate of 6.5 percent from about 18 percent in the early 1990's.

The government has significantly increased the number of persons having anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. Currently over 67, 000 people are accessing ARV drugs. Though a small figure compared to the 189,000 people who need them, it's a landmark achievement for Uganda, because about 5 to 10 years ago ARVs were very expensive for the patients to afford. Currently they are issued free of charge. BOTTLENECKS

Although Uganda has scored considerable success in the fight against HIV/AIDS, attracting international praise, there are bottlenecks that are undermining the fight.

HIV/AIDS is an extraordinary multi-sectoral issue that calls for multiple partnership and involvement of all. Because of this, multiple implementation arrangements associated with community based, faith based, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and government response have been put in place at all levels to address the challenge.

While this is a good indication of responsiveness, it has resulted in difficulties in monitoring, evaluation, coordination and quality assurance, with duplication of services becoming more common leading to concentration of services in some areas while others are under-serviced.

This has led to health experts' question on the country's prevalence that has stagnated at about 6.5 percent over the last three years.

Consequently it has forced the government to step up its effort to address gaps that undermine its fight against the scourge.

EFFORTS

The Uganda Aids Commission (UAC) has in collaboration with AIDS partners organized joint annual reviews on HIV/AIDS.

During these review exercises all government ministries are required to highlight roles and responsibilities, achievements, challenges and emerging issues. The submissions forwarded by the ministries and other partners are used in the formulation of the National Strategic Framework (NSF). This NSF highlights the country's priority AIDS action plan. It is used for a period of five years. The country is approaching the end of a 5 year strategic planning period in June 2006. Consequently, the NSF will undergo an evaluation that will feed into the development of a new NSF.

The government has also embarked on a crackdown on corrupt officials in charge of the funds used to fight the pandemic. The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in the recent past suspended funds to Uganda following what it called serious mismanagement of the funds.

This prompted the government to institute a commission of inquiry into the allegations. The commission, which is still carrying out its work has unearthed the corrupt officials.

President Yoweri Museveni said that those found guilty will face the law. Therefore with the corruption levels reduced in the management of the AIDS funds, the AIDS patients especially in the rural areas will be able to access drugs.

UAC Director General, David Kihumulo recently said that all the intervention strategies must also recognize that HIV prevention and treatment are interlinked and that both should be simultaneously accelerated.

He noted that there is need to take into consideration the growing linkages between AIDS and factors that put people at greater risk of HIV infection such as poverty, gender inequality and social marginalization of specific populations.

With these loopholes covered, Uganda will be able to achieve more success in the fight against the HIV/AIDS, a disease that continues to weaken the economic and social setup of many African countries.

Source: Xinhua