HIV Prevention Act Angers Ugandan AIDS Activists

published on August 27, 2014 in Voice of America

KAMPALA—

Uganda’s president recently signed the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act into law. The bill criminalizes the transmission of HIV and also enforces mandatory testing. Such provisions have upset activists who want to de-stigmatize Uganda’s HIV-positive community.

The country's parliament passed the act in May. President Yoweri Museveni signed it act into law July 31.

Health advocates say they are alarmed by a number of passages in the bill that sanction forced disclosure, criminalize transmission and mandate testing for certain groups.

Asia Russell, the Director of International Policy with Global Access Project, explains why these passages are so troubling.

“This act, contrary to best practice, to human rights, to evidence of what works in contexts like Uganda, would actually criminalize HIV," she said. "And what we’ve seen is that in contexts where knowing your HIV status can be used as a criminal liability against you, it actually makes people hesitate. And the last thing we need is one more reason for people at greatest risk of infection to hesitate before seeking a test.”

Uganda was originally a leader in working to reduce AIDS rates. After the disease arrived in the country in the 1980s, officials opened up the first voluntary HIV counseling and testing clinic in sub-Saharan Africa.

Media campaigns and the nationwide "ABC" program -- promoting abstinence, being faithful and condom usage -- helped bring down the HIV infection rate from 18 percent in 1991 to just under 6 percent in 2002.

Lizabeth Paulat
Voice of America
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HIV Prevention Act Angers Ugandan AIDS Activists

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