The vast majority of young people do not know how HIV is transmitted or how to protect themselves from the infection. In India only 37 per cent of young people have ever heard of HIV or AIDS, only 33 per cent in Bangladesh (UNAIDS, 2002b). In Mozambique, 74 per cent of girls and 62 per cent of boys aged 15-19 are unaware of any way to protect themselves from HIV (UNAIDS, 2001). In Somalia only 28 per cent of girls have heard of AIDS and only one per cent know how to protect themselves (UNAIDS, 2002b). Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, where girls receive less education than boys, only half of teenage girls realize that a healthy-looking person can be living with HIV (UNAIDS, 2001).

  Here in Uganda, although there was a dramatic decrease in the number of primary school going children who are sexually active – from 61% to 5% (boys), and from 25% to 3% (girls) between 1994 and 2001 (Ngatia et al. 2001), there is still an alarmingly high rate of of those aged 19 and below.[(52% are sexually active, and 28% are already married off.) Demographic and Healthy Surveys, 1998 – 2001]. So there is an urgent need to educate young people in particular about sex and HIV. They are having sex. Many are having sex from their early teens. They urgently need the knowledge and the skills to protect themselves from HIV and other STIs. We are not yet there. Complacency could spell disaster, and roll back the much-acclaimed strides Uganda has moved in the fight against this epidemic. We have to keep the foot onto the pedal, and, if anything, press much harder for a sustainable positive trend in this crusade. 

Examining a patient at the clinic

Small and terribly under facilitated as STAO may be, she has on many occasions stood up to be counted among the gallant combatants in this battle. We walk down to the people, deep in the remotest of villages, and teach the basics; what HIV/AIDS is, what it actually is not, ways and means of protection from infection, and how to treat and care for the victims without due discrimination. In vicinities where there is electric current, we use a TV and a VCR and show movies about HIV/AIDS, NUTRITION, and SEXUALLY TRANSIMITED INFECTIONS. At times, when we deem it practicable, we mobilize a parish or an area close to that, using the local political leadership of the area in concert with STAO’s own registered community based volunteers (SOCIAL CARE GROUPS). In STAO jargon, we call this the ‘MASS APPROACH.’

Thirst for information: Residents of Mpumudde village watching an AIDS sensitization movie

We also use the ‘HOME-TO-HOME APPROACH’, where we reach out to those who cannot make it to the collecting centers for one reason or the other. This is where we also reach out to the chronically ill, analyse the vulnerability rate of the children and take appropriate corrective measures, commensurate with our capacity.  We administer Off The Shelf medication, advise on when and where to visit professional medical care, and offer basic necessities like maize flour, beans, salt, soap, paraffin and sugar. We also provide condoms through this approach, as we realized that the cost of a 3 condom pack in the local shops is the equivalent of almost 2 or 3 meals in this part of the country.

Holding onto precious life:  An AIDS patient being comforted in a time when she needed it most.