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Article Published on:
15th July 2004. |
| Less Ugandans living with HIV |
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By Carolyne Nakazibwe Uganda�s HIV/AIDS prevalence among adults has declined further, from 5.1 percent in 2001 to 4.1 percent this year. Although the latest surveillance report estimated that about 1.3 million Ugandans living with HIV, the 2004 UNAIDS report on the epidemic says that number has dropped to 530,000, a more than 50 percent decline.
Compared to other countries in the region, Uganda seems to have an edge over the pandemic, registering steady declines since 1992 when the prevalence rate hovered near 30 percent. Kenya and Tanzania have 1.2 million people (6.7 percent and 1.6 million people (8.8 percent) living with the virus respectively. The report, launched this week during the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, indicated however, that women and children are increasingly at more risk of infection. In Uganda, 270,000 of people infected are women, while in Tanzania that number stands at 840,000, and 720,000 in Kenya. There are also grimmer pictures emerging from the southern African countries, where AIDS is still on its upward curve even as the rest of Africa registers declines. South Africa�s prevalence rate, for example, went up from 20.9 percent in 2001 to 21.5 percent by the end of last year. Swaziland had 210,000 (38.2 percent) people living with HIV in 2001, compared to 220,000 (38.8 percent) last December. Worldwide, an estimated 4.8 million people became infected with HIV in 2003 alone, the highest figure registered in one year so far. Some 37.8 million people are living with HIV, 2.9 million died of AIDS-related illness in 2003, and more than 20 million have died since the first cases of AIDS were identified in 1981. In Uganda, AIDS is reported to have killed 78,000 people last year. However, even with these harrowing statistics, progress in access to treatment or the search for a vaccine, has been slow. Only 400,000 people worldwide are on treatment, reflecting just seven percent of the total number in urgent need of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Although more than 70 percent of the world�s HIV infections are in Africa, only three percent of the 400,000 on drugs are in Africa. Latin America and the Caribbean have the highest number of people on ART (51 percent). Countries like Brazil have sustained free-drugs-for-all policies for years. In Uganda, although ART prices fell from $1,150 (Shs 2.05m) in 2000 to about $150 (Shs 268,500) last year, according to the report, 150,000 people risk death if they are not immediately availed the life-prolonging treatment. Less than 20,000 people are currently accessing them. Government last month launched the free drugs for all project, starting with 3,000 patients, and hopes to cover 60,000 by 2005. �An estimated 5-6 million people in low and middle income countries will die in the next two years if they do not receive ART treatment,� the UNAIDS report says. Uganda, however, is listed among six countries in sub-Saharan Africa intending to set up their own production facilities for generic drugs. |
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