Monday, July 26, 2004
Abstinence: Now Activists Take on Museveni
By DAVID KAIZA
THE EASTAFRICAN
CIVIL SOCIETY organisations in Uganda have charged that the government, whose HIV/Aids policies have over the past decades tremendously reduced infection rates, is changing its policies under US pressure.
But the Ministry of Health has come out strongly in defence of President Yoweri Museveni�s statement in Bangkok, Thailand, Aids conference, where he criticised condom use, saying that the president was merely re-stating what Uganda had always done. He added that the country was still continuing to make huge gains in the fight against the virus.
However, the Health Promotion and Social Development (HEPS) said that since US President George W. Bush visited Uganda in 2003, the government seemed to be losing its position in the HIV/Aids war.
This loss of initiative, HEPS said, was not confined merely to Aids, but was expanding to the entire health sector � and not necessarily to Uganda�s advantage.
"At the heart of the American interests is trade," Rosette Kyorutangi, the co-ordinator of the Coalition for Access to Essential Medicines, a coalition of non governmental organisations told The EastAfrican last week. "The American government and the pharmaceutical industry are always out promoting American products. But at the heart of Bush�s interest is also politics. There is no way Bush can go to the American people and tell them that we are promoting condom use in Africa. That would be shocking. He wants re-election, so being seen to do good elsewhere helps a lot."
HEPS said the turn-around in President Museveni�s and the government�s policy on Aids was political. Ms Kyorutangi said that the ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, use Condom) policy was itself faulty and did not reflect what has actually been happening in the fight against Aids in Uganda.
But the State Minister for Health, Mike Mukula said, "President Museveni in his statement in Bangkok must not be misunderstood."
The line of defence against Aids in Uganda is Abstinence, Behaviour change and if you can�t, use Condoms (ABC), the Minister said.
"Why for example, just because the president laid emphasis on abstinence, should people say that he has adopted the US line? Many countries in the world today use the ABC. And the ABC was first developed in Uganda anyway. Of course, the truth is that if you abstain, you won�t get infected," he said.
Ms Kyorutangi said the coalition was worried that the president�s comments in Bangkok were likely to shift the emphasis in government priorities on Aids, away from condoms, onto abstinence.
When President Museveni made a speech at the 15th International Aids Conference two weeks ago, he kicked off a tidal wave of controversy that observers fear will eventually split the anti-Aids effort in half.
The president said that the condom was not always the best option. Critics said that the president was touting a line that the US government has made its official policy.
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages!
