Organization Calls for Increased Efforts To Prevent Violence Against Women, HIV/AIDS in Uganda

The Ugandan chapter of the Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa recently called for increased action to address violence against women and girls in the country, the Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports. In a statement released at the AMICAALL annual meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, Uganda chapter Executive Director John Mugisa said that because violence against women is widespread, Uganda has adopted a declaration against such violence to help prevent the spread of HIV. "In pursuance of the above declaration, AMICAALL Uganda program in collaboration with its partners will undertake a number of activities during the year 2008 to address issues of violence against women and girls that increase their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and continue to deepen the global crisis of the epidemic," Mugisa said.

According to the declaration, violence often prevents women from obtaining access to HIV prevention, care and treatment. In addition, violence can keep women from disclosing their HIV-positive status, the declaration said. To address the issue, AMICAALL said it will support community-based programs aimed at promoting behavior change and addressing societal norms that reinforce violence against women. AMICAALL leaders also pledged to take action against "all forms of violence against women" that increase "their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS."

Although Uganda ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1985, the country has no specific law that prohibits domestic violence (Lirri, Monitor/AllAfrica.com, 2/11).