Uganda holds the 7th Joint Annual HIV/AIDS Review

The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) organised the Joint Annual HIV&AIDS Review which took place on 11^th and 12^th September at Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala. The UAC head, Dr. Christine Ondoa said that participants should identify priorities for a new National HIV&AIDS Strategic Plan for the next five years and reflect on the national response to the HIV epidemic.


Former Minister of Health Dr. Rukutana Rugunda, US Ambassador Scott DeLisi being welcomed by UAC Head Dr. Christine Ondoa. Photo by Namirimu Esther

“This year’s theme is, “Getting to Zero, My Responsibility,” she said.

She also noted that the 7^th Joint Annual AIDS Review will be used to assess the performance of HIV/AIDS programs and policies in Uganda since 2011.

The US ambassador Scott DeLisi recognised the ongoing partnership between the HIV&AIDS Development Partners including Ireland, the UK, Denmark, and Sweden, the United Nations agencies, the United States, the government and the people of Uganda.

 US Ambassador to Uganda Scott DeLisi and Former Minister of Health Dr. Rukutana Rugunda at the 7th Joint Annual Review held at Imperial Royale in Kampala. Photo by Namirimu Esther.

 

“Together we have made great strides towards a healthier future for the citizens of this country and in the past two years we have had some notable and noteworthy successes in pursuit of our goal of an AIDS-free generation,” he added.

Ambassador DeLisi said that the government of the United States alone has invested over $2.6billion dollars- that is almost seven trillion Ugandan shillings- to fight HIV over the past decade.

“Today some 600,000 HIV-positive Ugandans live healthy and productive lives because the people of the United States support their antiretroviral therapy (ART).

He also noted that in 2013 alone, PEPFAR support gave over 88,000 HIV-positive pregnant women the chance to give birth to HIV-free children.

L-R: US Ambassador to Uganda Scott DeLisi, Former minister of Health Dr. Rukutana Rugunda, Uganda AIDS Commission Chairman, Professor Vinand Nantulya and Dr. Christine Ondoa. Photo by Namirimu Esther.

 

The Chairperson of UNASO, Dr. Raymond Byaruhanga said that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)  have participated in the midterm review of the National HIV Strategic Plan, been represented on National Prevention Committee, we are members of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) for Global Fund and other working groups both at national and district levels.

He praised the Government of Uganda for continuing to demonstrate its commitment to the national fight against HIV/AIDS through various ways, for example on 31^st July; President Yoweri Museveni signed the HIV and Control Bill into a Law.

L-R: Executive Director of TASO, Dr. Christine Nabiryo, Commissioner Ministry of Health Dr. Alex Opio and Dr.Donna Kabatesi of Center for Disease Control Uganda. Photo by Namirimu Esther.

 

“Even though it has some unacceptable clauses, this law has positive provisions like a nationwide fund for HIV care, and outlaws discrimination against HIV-positive individuals in workplace and schools,” he added.

 

He recommended that the CSOs role in all thematic areas of the new National Strategic Plan (NSP) be articulated to ensure systematic programming, capacity building as well as monitoring and evaluation of the CSOs contribution to the national response.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), leadership and governance involves “ensuring strategic policy frameworks exist and are combined with effective oversight, coalition building, regulation, attention to system-design and accountability”.

 

The Executive Director of Uganda AIDS Commission Dr. Raymond Namanya presenting a statement on behalf of the CSOs. Photo by Namirimu Esther

“The current status of leadership and management of the response at all levels is weak. The national and decentralized partnership structures as of now cannot be evaluated as very effective to facilitate smooth communication and coordination,” he added.

He also said that contradictory messages have been sent out on the emerging interventions, resulting in inaction on new evidence. As a result, the response is becoming disjointed to the extent that key offices are not even aware of national priorities.

Dr. Byaruhanga recommended that the revised NSP should clearly define the roles of different stakeholders, including UAC, Ministry of Health (MOH), CSOs, Local Governments, Political leadership among others.

 

He noted that although many citizens have keen interest to carry out program and budget monitoring and evaluation as well as demanding accountability from the duty bearers, it is clear that they are not adequately empowered to do so with appropriate information and techniques.

 “We recommend that community scorecard mechanism be institutionalized. This model facilitates participation, accountability and transparency among service users, providers and decision-makers and gives citizens an opportunity to appraise the quality of services to increase duty bearers’ responsiveness to their needs,” he noted.

Health workers, AIDS Development Partners, CSO representatives, representatives from embassies, representatives from government and media present at the 7th Joint Annual AIDS Review held at Imperial Royale on 11th-12th September. Photo by Namirimu Esther

 

Uganda AIDS Accountability Scorecard Launched

The Uganda AIDS Accountability Scorecard, the first of its kind in the country was launched on Wednesday April 30th by the Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organisations (UNASO) at Hotel Africana, in Kampala.

The Uganda AIDS Accountability Score card which was produced by the Uganda Network of AIDS Services Organisations (UNASO) with support of United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) rates the degree to which the Government of Uganda is fulfilling its commitment to respond to the AIDS epidemic.

Presenting the findings of the Scorecard, the Executive Director of UNASO, Mr. Bharam Namanya, said that the study shows that anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for both adults and children was performing well as well as tuberculosis (TB) treatment.

He said that the number of Ugandans accessing Anti-Retroviral treatment increased from 329,060 (57 per) to 577,000 (76.5 per cent) between September 2011 and September 2013.

“Findings also reveal that the majority of respondents are happy with the performance of other interventions; Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), and Safe Male Circumcision (SMC).”

Mr. Namanya noted that the findings indicate that most health facilities had infrastructure however, they had not had any renovation and required facelift for they were generally characterized by worn out paintings, dust stained louvers, dirt stained and damaged screening meshes, stained and damaged ceilings, damaged doors, cracked walls, non-functional water taps.

The study also highlighted that the general challenges for prevention indicated that stigma is still limiting identified HIV positive clients from accessing treatment and there is shortage of midwives in supported lower level facilities especially among health centres III.

 Mr.. Namanya also added that the findings show that there is lack of comprehensive counseling skills at Antenatal Care, women fear to test for HIV and AIDS and there is scarcity of both female and male condoms; female condoms are not available and there is limited public education about them.

 “Inadequate public education about female condom, and where it is available, it carries confusing messages from multiple implementers,” he added.

 Another challenge is the biting poverty in the community that has been a hindrance to honoring of referrals. Clients are willing to access service in health facilities but they claim not to have transport.



United Nations Development Programme Country Director, Ms Almaz Gebru officially launching the first Uganda AIDS Accountability Scorecard at Hotel Africana, April 30. Looking on are officials from Mildmay, Uganda AIDS Commission and the Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organisations (UNASO). UNDP-Uganda Photo

Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) Board Chairperson, Professor Vinand Nantulya, described the scorecard as, “an opportunity to improve service delivery and offers a platform for communication between health service users and the service providers. It underscores immediate response and joint decision-making”.

Eight key elements required for an effective national response to AIDS were assessed, namely: Data Collection, Focus on Most-at-Risk Populations, Treatment, Prevention, Coordination, Civil Society, Financing and Human Rights Mainstreaming based on the performance indicators of Uganda’s National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 2011/12-2014/15.

Also at the launch, UNASO flagged off a new Accountability Framework for AIDS Service Organisations in Uganda, a tool aimed at helping CSOs to enhance internal accountability, governance and transparency to build capacity to support the HIV and AIDS sector in Uganda.

 An estimated 1.3 million Ugandans aged 15 to 49 are currently living with HIV and prevalence has continued to rise from 6.4 per cent in 2004/2005 to 7.3 per cent in 2011.

UNASO, with a membership of over 2,000 CSOs, provides a platform for advocacy, coordination, networking, capacity building and information sharing among civil society AIDS service organizations (ASOs) to improve on the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of service delivery in Uganda.