“Lira City youth” who are HIV positive not taking ARVs, 7 dead

National: As of 2018, the estimated HIV prevalence among adults (aged 15 to 49) stood at 5.7%. Two women are disproportionately affected, with 8.8 of adult women living with HIV compared to 4.3% of men.

By Doreen Acipa

Lira – 11, May 2021: Many youth who are HIV positive in Lira City are declining to go to the art clinic and taking their ARVs – this publication has been told.

Others have lost their lives as a result of many challenges brought by Covid-19.

Out of over 2,000 young people who are HIV positive in Lira City, not more than 900 are enrolled in the art clinic at Lira Regional Referral Hospital and only 57 percent knows their viral loads, according to Zainabu Taliba.

Taliba is Miss Young Positive in northern Uganda.

Taliba highlighted on some of the challenges faced by the young people who are positive since Covid-19 was reported in Uganda.

According to Taliba, stigmatization from some cultural and religious leaders and the community at large is stopping young people from getting treatments.

The Miss Young Positive also expressed her disappointment, saying that most youth in Lira are HIV positive. She identified the category of (adult) people infecting the youth.

“It is the adults and businessmen in Lira who are highly spreading the HIV virus among the youth,” she said while sharing her own experience.

She also said that 95 percent of the youth are HIV positive, but does not know their statuses, and urged them to go for medical checkups.

“While, 95 percent are installed on art treatment and the 95 percent who are retained on art should access their viral load,” she adds.

Speaking to the Lira City HIV Focal Point Person, Fred Omara, he highlighted the effects of Covid-19, saying that his team could not reach the community for health education on advantages of knowing their statuses, adopting the culture of self-testing, managing stigmatization and adherence to ARVs among others.

Omara also said that hunger made some of the young people living with HIV to decline on taking their ARVs hence leading to the death of over seven young people who were positive during Covid-19 pandemic.

However, he says that he forwarded the challenges to the national forum and around 100 young positive people benefited from “the give directly project” though most of the vulnerable young positive people did not have mobile phones.

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“That was another big challenge,” he added. Omara confirmed that most youth are HIV positive but they are being infected by the adults in the community since the “mother to child transmission has been eliminated”.

The Focal Point Person also said there are three categories of young people living with HIV in Lira City among the 2,000 on their data who are positive.

“The three categories are: the young children who are HIV positive but are leaving with only their grandparents, children who are also HIV positive though staying with their parents who doesn’t want to disclose, and the last category are the young positive who are exposed and already knows the advantages of adherence of ARVs and positive living among others.”

On category number two, he says their parents go to the hospitals to get medication for their children.

Meanwhile, according to Global Information and Education on HIV and AIDs, in 2018, an estimated 1.4 million people were living with HIV/AIDS and an estimated 23,000 Ugandans died of AIDS related illness.

The epidemic is firmly established in general population. As of 2018, the estimated HIV prevalence among adults (aged 15 to 49) stood at 5.7%. Two women are disproportionately affected, with 8.8 of adult women living with HIV compared to 4.3% of men.

The report also revealed that 34 other groups particularly affected by HIV in Uganda are sex workers, young girls and adolescent women, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and people from Uganda’s transient fishing communities.

In December 2013, the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board called on UNAIDS to support country and region led efforts to establish new targets for HIV treatment scale up beyond 2015.

In response, stakeholders’ consultations on new targets have been held in all regions of the world. At the global level, stakeholders assembled in a variety of thematic consultations focused on civil society, laboratory medicine, pediatric HIV treatment, adolescents and other key issues.

Powerful momentum is now (have been) building towards a new narrative on HIV treatment and a new ambitious, but achievable target as below:

By 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their status.

By 2020, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy.

By 2020, 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.