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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Leader of Opposition in Parliament Mathias Mpuuga, has asked the government to prioritize reducing the distance between health centers from 30km to 5km, to improve access to HIV/AIDS care services among the rural population.
Mpuuga’s proposal is contained in his statement commemorating World AIDS Day on Thursday as the country continues to make significant progress towards eliminating HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
The theme of this year’s World Aids Day was; “Ending Inequalities,” which Mpuuga said is a call to action for leaders at all levels to play their part in ending the inequalities in the HIV/AIDS responses and aid the eradication of the scourge. “Inequality in the care for people living with AIDS is at its worst as evidenced by the uneven distribution of HIV treatment centers across the country. Not all districts have hospitals nor do all constituencies have a health centre IV,” part of Mpuuga’s statement read.
Citing some regions like Bukedi that lack regional referral hospitals, Mpuuga noted that it makes access to HIV/AIDS care services difficult for a big percentage of the population given the long distances patients have to move to reach the nearby health facility.
He observed that the distance from health centers needs to be reduced in most rural areas, adding that in the short run, the Ministry of Health should explore the possibility of working out an arrangement with private clinics and drug shops in the communities to offer some of the HIV/AIDS care services.
Mpuuga further rallied the country to put more effort and encourage HIV/AIDS patients to adhere to the treatment to eliminate incidents of drug resistance, secure the rights of people living positive, and fight stigma and discrimination. With a population of 1.4 million adults and children living with HIV in Uganda, statistics reveal an annual 54,000 new infection rate among the population, which translates to 1,038 weekly and 151 daily respectively.
Of the 1.4 million people living positively, 840,000 of them are women aged 15 and above while 500,000 are men aged 15 and above, and 88,000 are children under the age of 14. The HIV prevalence rate among those between the age of 15 to 49 stands at 5.5 percent, women aged 15 to 49 (7.1 percent), and men aged 15 to 49 (at 3.8 percent).
Dr. Moses Ocan, a Senior Lecturer at Makerere University College of Health Sciences, says that the target population experiences unique challenges in life ranging from poverty, limited access to sexual reproductive health services, sexual abuse, domestic violence, lack of counseling and psychosocial support, and poor adherence to antiretroviral treatment among others.
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