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Showing posts from August, 2015

“My children will not starve while I have my body to sell”

“My children will not starve while I have my body to sell” Email a friend Print | © Hope Mafaranga January 12, 2015 Author Hope Mafaranga Country Uganda Filed under HIV and wider development issues 2 Comments At Katwe-Kabatoro landing site on the shores of Lake George in Uganda’s Kasese district, the HIV epidemic is taking another twist. With few other opportunities to earn a living, many women sell their bodies in exchange for fish, while others face dangerous working conditions in the lake’s salt mining industry. Susan Kabugho, a 47-year-old mother of six, says she has sex with more than five men in order to survive. “There is no way I am going to loo

Aine’s story: addressing stigma and ignorance about HIV

Aine, 28, lives in Biharwe village in Mbarara district in western Uganda, and is just one of many people who almost lost his life to HIV due to a lack of information about the virus. Boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) rider Aine says that when HIV hit his marriage, he believed that he and his wife Joan were bewitched and so they sought medical attention from a shrine in Nyakabale village, some 80 km away in Sheema district. http://www.keycorrespondents.org/2015/04/13/aines-story-addressing-stigma-and-ignorance-about-hiv/

Ugandan government warns against complacency in HIV response

Despite the massive HIV response by the Ugandan government and its partners, 380 people still get infected with HIV every single day. The new infections are threatening Uganda’s success story in responding to HIV in the late 1990s. Speaking at the 2015 Western Regional HIV and AIDS Scientific Conference, Dr Zepher Karyabakabo, director of policy, research and programming at Uganda AIDS Commission , said Uganda has 1.6 million people living with HIV who need care, treatment and support. He added that 56,000 people die every year of HIV-related illnesses. http://www.keycorrespondents.org/2015/06/17/ugandan-government-warns-against-complacency-in-hiv-response/

Jacinta’s story: HIV does not discriminate

As Women Deliver delegates gather in Malaysia this week to discuss progress on women and girls’ health and wellbeing, Key Correspondent Hope Mafaranga recounts how one young woman living with HIV faces particular challenges in Uganda. “I never believed I was HIV positive, I was forced to test in three different health centres but my results never changed. I did not imagine I could get HIV from my girlfriend,” says Jacinta. http://www.keycorrespondents.org/2013/05/28/jacintas-story-hiv-does-not-discriminate/

No hope for HIV prevention for Indonesian sex workers

Keeping watch for policemen is a typical day for Dewi, now 29, a sex worker in Bekasi, an industrial area east of Jakarta in Indonesia. “I live by the grace of God. I have to keep on the look out for policemen who are always looking for sex workers to arrest them,” says Dewi, who has been a sex worker since the age of 19. Dewi works in a bar in an area that hosts big international manufacturing giants like Converse and Samsung. Every night she goes to dance with the long-distance truck drivers and factory workers who come to drink and relax after work. If they want sex, she sells that to them too. http://www.keycorrespondents.org/2014/04/17/no-hope-for-hiv-prevention-for-indonesian-sex-workers/

Christians lock bishop out of church

A bitter row erupted in the Church of Uganda’s West Ankole Diocese prompting the Police to deploy heavily to protect the Bishop from a section of Christians. Bishop Yona Katonene, who started a tour of the archdeaconries of Rwabutura and Kabwohe on Sunday was on Monday locked out of one of the churches in Sheema by Christians. The Christains accuse the Bishop of attempting to relocate the church-founded Ankole Western University project (AWIST) from the area to Bushenyi district. http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/655118-christians-lock-bishop-out-of-church.html