By Caroline Kanshabe
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has reiterated his call to Ugandans to exercise prevention as the main strategy and solution in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“Everyone should prevent himself from contracting HIV/AIDS and it is possible. You should counsel the children from the tender age that even though the treatment is available, if you get infected, the virus limits your health. So to get the full potential of your life, avoid this virus. Prevention is the number one solution in our fight against HIV/AIDS,” President Museveni said.
He made the remarks yesterday during the World AIDS Day commemoration held at Kibaale playground in Rakai District. The event ran under the theme: “Ending AIDS by 2030, Keeping Communities at the Centre”.
Every year, on 1st December, the world commemorates the international AIDS Day where people around the globe unite to show support for people living with and affected by HIV and to remember those who lost their lives to the scourge.
The President also advised Ugandans that they should keep their children in school in order to control the rising numbers of HIV infections among the young people.
“Originally this virus took us by surprise, we didn’t know where it was coming from, but within a short time we got to know that it was coming from through sex and from that time, we told people that you can easily avoid this problem and when they do, it works. It doesn’t spread. Now that we know where it comes from, why is it continuing to spread? From the data, it seems part of the problem are the young people from the age of 15 plus, who are desperate and they surrender their lives to people who infect them,” he disclosed.
“You said that young people who are not in school are the most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS but also this is due to not listening to my advice because in 1996 I introduced free Education in government schools but some people like head teachers frustrated that arrangement, they make parents pay fees in government schools. Such fees are the ones keeping children out of school. If you did that, you would liberate these young children from that dependence on other people prematurely.
We should take it as one of the anti-AIDS measures. The children from the poor homes should go to school and be looked after by the Republic of Uganda through free education.”
President Museveni further urged parents to embrace government programs like Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga in order to improve the livelihoods of their families and have their children not to become so desperate trying to sell themselves to make a living.
H.E Museveni on the other hand, advised the people who are already living with the virus to live a positive life and take medication as prescribed by health practitioners.
“I want to thank people like Dr. Watiti and others because they have shown us that it is possible to live longer despite living with the virus,” he asserted.
“We want to do away with HIV/AIDS once and for all, we cannot continue keeping it here. Our scientists at Entebbe are working around the clock to ensure that we get the vaccine. We managed to vaccinate our people against Covid-19 , it is no longer a threat. Even Ebola can be vaccinated among other diseases like polio. Fortunately, for HIV also, our scientists have assured me that there’s hope. As you live, there are many other programs that can help us to end new infections. We have a program where we prevent an HIV positive expectant mother from infecting her new born baby,” he added.
The Minister for Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda revealed that President Museveni’s efforts in working with and supporting the scientists and other players in the fight against HIV and AIDS enabled Uganda to bring down the HIV prevalence from 18% in the 1990s when the Uganda AIDS Commission had just been created to now 5%.
“Sir, it is said that behind every successful man there is a woman. I would like to appreciate the First Lady, Maama Janet Kataha Museveni who has equally provided such an inspiring contribution in the fight against this deadly disease. Her efforts involving HIV positive women and children orphaned by the disease will be remembered forever,” Hon. Babalanda said.
