The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) is yet to hear from the government about the HIV/AIDS Trust Fund.
Dr Lydia Mungherera, a board member at Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), says that fund was meant to start this financial year as Uganda Revenue Authority is supposed to be deducting a 2% tax off drinks such as beer, soda and water to finance the fund.
She, however, says that nothing has been done so far. She says that recently they held a meeting with speaker Rebecca Kadaga who was too wondering what was stopping the fund from taking off.
The plan was for the money collected from the tax to be deposited on an account run by the Ministry of Finance whereby they will provide funds for activities geared into elimination of HIV/AIDS that are not funded by donors and government and that it comes in handy with shrinking donor funding.
HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act, signed into law in 2014, provides for the creation of an AIDS Trust Fund. It is estimated that a total of 7.4 billion shillings will be used to pay for HIV and AIDS counselling, testing and treatment. The Ministry of Finance is expected to provide 10 billion shillings as initial funding for the fund.
The idea of having a fund in place was borrowed from countries like Zimbabwe that have managed to provide care to their people living with HIV without much dependence on donors.
The worry by advocates is that if donors stopped providing money for treatment and prevention initiatives in Uganda, the country can be easily plunged into another HIV/AIDS crisis.
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