Ugandan President Museveni Says That HIV/AIDS Efforts Should Target At-Risk Groups

HIV/AIDS prevention and education efforts should target at-risk groups -- including refugees, internally displaced people, fishing communities, truck drivers, commercial sex workers and the disabled -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Sunday at the launch of a regional HIV/AIDS partnership program in Kampala, Uganda, the New Vision reports. In a speech read by Ethics and Integrity Minister Nsaba Buturo, Museveni said, "Detailed studies in Uganda have found these" high-risk groups are contributing to the spread of HIV, adding that the groups are "normally hard to reach."

According to the New Vision, the partnership program will be run by IGAD -- a regional body that includes Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. The four-year, $15 million program will be based in Uganda and will receive funding from the World Bank through the Africa Catalytic Growth Fund. The program seeks to foster collaboration in combating HIV/AIDS with a focus on the refugees, internally displaced people, and cross-border and mobile groups in IGAD states.

Museveni applauded IGAD member states for their efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. He said the ABC strategy -- which stands for abstinence, be faithful and use condoms -- remains an important part of efforts to curb the spread of HIV. He added that other strategies also should be utilized to help fight HIV/AIDS. "Programs like prevention of mother-to-child transmission must be scaled up, and we must support efforts to find an AIDS vaccine," he said (Baguma, New Vision, 1/28).