In Uganda, AIDS-fighting drop-in centers have closed, UN reports
Impact of U.S. funding freeze on Uganda’s AIDS response
By Joto La Jiwe
UNAIDS has revealed a worrying situation for Uganda’s LGBTQI+ people following the closure of Drop-in Centres (DICs).
This is one of the several disruptions caused by the freezing of U.S funding for HIV/AIDS services in the East African Country.
There have been disruptions in key services like HIV prevention, testing and treatment, as well as disruptions in the supply chain where viral load test kits and other lab tests have been affected.
DICs have been the safest spaces for Key Populations to access HIV/AIDS treatment services without being subjected to stigma.
According to UNAIDS, the U.N.’s anti-AIDS agency, many community-led organizations that provide services outside of health facilities have also been forced to restructure and community-led monitoring has been put on pause.
“In Uganda, where U.S. funding is 55% of the total AIDS budget, some facilities/service points providing antiretroviral therapy and prevention of vertical transmission services have closed. Patients have been referred to other facilities”, the report states.
Ms. Nakibuuka Noor, the Deputy Executive Director at the Centre for Health and Human Rights Development (CEHURD), says there is no justification for the U.S international aid freeze, considering the end result: “Lives and livelihoods will be lost”.
“The question we should be asking as Ugandans is; what does it mean for lives of Ugandans when life-saving medication is being pulled away and people are losing jobs?”
U.S. funding has served as the backbone for HIV prevention in Uganda, a country that still remains among those with high burdens of HIV.
A rapid Ugandan assessment of the impact of the U.S. funding freeze on the country’s HIV programs is underway and the Ministry of Health has issued guidance for HIV services to be integrated into outpatient departments.
But with DICs, closed and stigma against Key Populations (those most at risk of AIDS) still high, human rights activists want the government to do more especially when it comes to accessing HIV/AIDS services by the LGBTQI+ community.
The Rev. Gideon Byamugisha, a cleric living with HIV and one of the few faith leaders who preach against homophobia, says it is incumbent upon all human rights advocates to demand more from the people in power.
“Let us not be just cheer leaders. It is high time our government started investing in us citizens. All of us, including the minority groups.”
Andrea Minaj Casablanca, a 25-year-old transgender woman and peer educator providing health education and support to L.G.B.T.Q. individuals, has been severely affected by the U.S. funding cuts.
Casablanca says she has fielded urgent requests from people seeking H.I.V. medications, therapy sessions and shelter in the wake of President Trump’s executive order. She responded to these calls while grappling with her own crisis: being fired from a job that was funded by U.S.A.I.D.
“Our whole world has been turned upside down. Everyone is in fear of the future”, Casablanca said, as quoted in a story published by The New York Times.
According to John Grace, the coordinator of the Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium.
LGBTQI+ people across Uganda are reaching out, worried about where to get medication, condoms, lubricants and tests. Some call in tears, sharing their struggles with fear and isolation.
Other serious impacts of the U.S. funding freeze and terminations are being reported by UNAIDS.
For example, the stoppage of U.S. funding for data systems and surveys is compromising quality control of data, which in turn impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of HIV prevention, testing and treatment service delivery.
There is fear that the Demographic and Health Surveys, which are the best measure of HIV prevalence in the general population, may be postponed in some of the UNAIDS-supported countries.
