US government moves to fight HIV/AIDs through Faith Based Initiative.

By; Jjunju Francis

20^th May 2021

The Uganda Episcopal Conference through her Health Department the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau has launched a campaign to create awareness against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The campaign under the Faith Based Initiative project FBI is aimed at increasing the number of men aware of their cero-status from 55% to 90 because unlike women who stand at 88% with the background of their cero-status men are said to be transmitting HIV causing more infection and orphans that would be avoided.

According to Dr. Henry Mwesezi one of the implementing experts at the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau, American donors have provided all the necessary support in the fight against HIV; Drugs, testing tools and awareness support but complacence and fear of stigma live a high number of men not enrolled for HIV testing and treatment.

Currently 6 out of every 100 Ugandans are said to have HIV, with an infection rate of 53,000 new cases annually leading to a total of 1.5 Ugandans living with HIV as of the 2019 statistics.

These figures threaten the entire 46 million population of Ugandans, that is why the Catholic Church is working with other partners including the Anglicans and Muslims to see that religious leaders and their structures are used to further the campaign against the spread of HIV.

Dr. Mwesezi says they want to use all the Church structures and institutions right from the Bishops down to the Basic Christian Community leaders or catechist to help in reminding people of responsible living and encouraging all people to go for HIV testing if found positive to enroll for ARV in order to stay alive even beyond 70 years.

The program is also looking at addressing causes of domestic violence that expose children to different forms of injustices leaving them vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS.