The National Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS has urged the government of Uganda to end the routine stock outs of Anti Retroviral drugs in the various government health centers in the country.

NACWOLA members demonstrating for more attention to HIV/AIDS

This comes after a recent revelation that only 190, 000 out of 350, 000 people living with HIV/AIDS in need of ARVs treatment are able to access the life prolonging anti retroviral drugs.

The Program Officer of NACWOLA, Florence Buluuba has told journalists in Kampala that all health facilities must have regular and sufficient supplies of ARVs to the health centers to provide adequate treatment to the people infected with HIV.

Buluuba says now that research has shown that treatment of HIV/AIDS reduces transmission of the HIV/AIDS by 92% it is imperative that the government ensures that it addresses the issue of stock outs in Uganda’s health centers as means of improving the treatment of people infected with HIV and therefore reduces the rate of HIV transmission.

Though Uganda funding towards treatment of HIV/AIDS has increased in recent years, the Uganda Budget Framework Paper indicates that 72% of the health facilities in the country have inadequate or  no stocks of the essential drugs an example of which are the ARVs for relatively long periods of time at any given time in the course of the year.

By Tiberindwa Zakaria, Ultimate Media