The National Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS has appealed to the government of Uganda to scale up its investment in the Anti- retroviral treatment and care.

The much needed ARV drugs

This comes after an earlier revelation in a report that treatment reduces HIV/AIDS transmission rates by about 92%

The Program Officer of NACWOLA, Florence Buluuba has told journalists at Parliament that if the government scales up investment in treatment of HIV/AIDS, it is capable of saving more than 500,000 Ugandans that are in urgent need of the life prolonging treatment for HIV positive people.

Buluuba says that government should also look at treatment as an investment rather than looking at it as a liability to the government since the people that need this treatment positively contribute to the welfare of this country.

Buluuba says the government should also know that treatment of HIV/AIDS is also another way of preventing the spread HIV/AIDS since it has already been proved that HIV/AIDS reduces HIV/AIDS transmission by about 92%

She says only 50% of people living with HIV/AIDSin need of antiretroviral therapy receive the life prolonging medicines called Anti retroviral drugs.

See other stories of HIV /AIDS and antiretroviral drugs

By Zacharia Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media

The post Uganda urged to scale investment in ARVs first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The bill has provisions that which would make it mandatory for every Ugandan to test for HIV/AIDS in case the bill were to be passed in its current form.

The Executive Director of NACWOLA, Agnes Apio while presenting a petition to the Speaker of Parliament to block these provisions in the bill said that mandatory testing provisions in the bill are unnecessary and undermine an individual’s right to privacy.

Apio says if enacted it in its current form with its proposition of criminalizing failure to have HIV tests, it will contravene the international legal practices for instance Guideline 4 of the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS which do not support the aspect of mandatory testing in the bill.

She says besides mandatory testing is not the best means of achieving greater levels of testing as the government can opt for better alternatives to have more people go for testing.

The speaker of Parliament Edward Kiwanuka Sekandi has said parliament will take into consideration views of NACWOLA in relation to the provisions on mandatory testing though he adds that since the bill is still under discussion it will be for the various stakeholders to decide whether these provisions are omitted or maintained in the bill depending on their input in the enactment of the bill.

The HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill is at the committee stage in Parliament.

See other stories related to the Uganda HIV AIDS bill

By Zacharia Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media

The post NACWOLA wants mandatory testing provisions scrapped out of HIV bill first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.