New report shows increasing HIV prevalence, incidence in Uganda

"An HIV/AIDS report by advocacy organizations in Uganda indicates that new transmissions are on the rise amidst troubling trends of increasing prevalence and incidence," Uganda's New Vision reports. "The findings are contained in a report titled: 'The Change We Need to End AIDS in Uganda,' which describes a 10-point plan to halt the trend," the newspaper notes. "Some of the 10 points include ending harmful policies that further marginalize vulnerable groups; endorsing and expanding safe medical circumcision; and tackling health challenges that hold back the response to AIDS," according to the newspaper.

"HIV prevalence in Uganda has risen from 6.4 percent in 2006 to 7.3 percent," Alice Kayongo, the HIV/AIDS policy adviser for Community Health Alliance Uganda, said at a media breakfast in Kampala on Tuesday, New Vision writes. She said Uganda is the only country receiving PEPFAR funding in which HIV incidence is rising, the newspaper notes. According to the newspaper, Kayongo also highlighted the fact that 43 percent of people "in most urgent clinical need of HIV/AIDS therapy [do not] have access to drugs" (Wandawa, 10/17).