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Half Kampala sex workers have HIV
Peter Nyanzi
2005-05-05

More than 47 percent of sex workers in Kampala are infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, an official in the ministry of health has said. The Commissioner for Community Health, Dr Sam Okware, was speaking at a press conference at which the ministry released preliminary results of the Uganda HIV/Aids Sero-Behavioural Survey (UHSBS) at the ministry headquarters in Kampala yesterday.

World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative, Dr Walker Oladapo attended. According to the survey presented by the Minister of Health, Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi, the prevalence of HIV/Aids is highest in the urban areas at 10.7 percent compared to 6.4 percent in the rural areas with rates among women in urban areas almost twice as high as those in rural areas.

But overall, the survey indicates that HIV infection rates have dropped from 18 percent in 1992 to the current figure of 7 percent. It also indicates that 99 percent of Ugandans have heard of HIV/Aids and are aware of how they can protect themselves from the disease.

The result shows that the government programme for HIV/Aids control is working. The ABC strategy being implemented should be intensified at all levels, Muhwezi said. The Director General of Health Services, Prof Francis Omaswa, was elated with the results saying, We are making good progress. The survey indicates, 7 percent of women and men between 15 - 59 years of age (800, 000 Ugandans) are infected with HIV.

It was conducted through interviews and took blood samples from a nationally representative group of over 18,000 women and men aged 15-59 years. It showed that women are more susceptible to HIV infection than men.

Overall, 7.9 percent of women have HIV, compared to only 6 percent of men. For both sexes, HIV infection levels are highest among those in their 30s and 40s and lowest in the 15-19 year age group where the rate is at 3.2 percent among women and 1.2 percent in men.

The survey found that more youth are waiting to have sex with the average age at first sex amongst respondents aged between 15-24 years standing at 17.9 for women and 19.1 for men, up from 17.3 for women and 18.3 for men in the 2000 survey.

But it is in extra marital sex that men continue to beat women. Amongst the sexually active age group of 15-49, only 18.2 percent of women reported engaging in extra marital sex in the past 12 months compared to 39.4 percent for men.

Of these, 40.5 percent of women and 49.5 percent of men said they used a condom the last time they engaged in extra marital sex. According to the survey, prevalence rates vary in different regions of Uganda with the lowest rate of 2.5 percent in the West Nile region, while the highest levels are in Buganda and Northern region.(Source: Monitor Newspaper 03 May, 2005. http://www.monitor.co.ug/news/news05035.php).

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