HIV/AIDS Information

ASOD-Uganda since it was founded in 2004 has moved a gig role in supporting orphans, youth, young mothers and other vulnerable children. In that time, HIV infections have risen tremendously, leaving many children orphans, despite the best efforts of many, rates of infection are still on the rise. Young people (14–24 year-olds) account for nearly half of all new HIV infections. The infection rate in urban areas in Uganda now stands at 10.2% most youth are vulnerble because of poverty Today, fewer than one in five people worldwide has access to HIV prevention services, only one in nine has access to voluntary counselling and testing, and in developing countries only 7 per cent of those who need it have access to anti-retroviral treatment. Over 40 million people are infectd with HIV/AIDS and Africa takes ¾ the leading and the highest percent of infection rate in the world. AIDS has killed one or both parents of an estimated 18 million children in sub-Saharan Africa, and many of these orphans are not properly cared for. Our vision a community where all orphans, other vulnerable children and disadvantaged societies live to their full potential; rights and aspirations are fulfilled. Have been driven from the above background.

Changes in response

The global response is undoubtedly better funded than ever before. Global spending on HIV/AIDS was 18 times higher than before in the early days. But it is less than half of what developing countries need in 2007. Increasingly, donors, policy makers, and those involved in the HIV/AIDS global response have recognised the importance of involving civil society. We have all learned lessons about the importance of protecting, promoting and fulfilling human rights and the need for a combination of approaches for prevention, treatment and reducing the risk and impact of HIV/AIDS throgh poverty eradication. There has also been a growing realisation that to halt – and begin to reverse – the spread of HIV/AIDS, we all need to do more, and do it faster. This change of pace has created challenges to keep the work of donors harmonised and to maintain quality control in rapidly expanding programming. Funding arrangements are changing, both in terms of the scale of the funding and the impact that the funding has. The Global Fund and World Bank are both increasing their levels of funding for HIV/AIDS, increasing possibilities in individual countries. However, this also raises issues about the capacity of countries to absorb and use this extra money, and the nature of the relationships between governments and civil society organisations themselves. While new money means that civil society organisations can make a much larger contribution, it brings with it a greater risk of non-governmental and community-based organisations losing their ability to mobilise support and simply becoming implementing subcontractors. One way to avoid this is by having national intermediaries in each country, along the lines we set up when the ASOD was established. More recently, anti-retroviral treatment has become increasingly available, and this has led to a shift in the general approach taken to programming. For example, there has been increased pressure for short-term results, sometimes at the expense of taking a capacity-building, developmental approach. The nature of HIV/AIDS as a chronic emergency has increased the need for a dual approach: addressing immediate HIV/AIDS-specific needs, while carrying out more long-term work on underlying factors and contexts. Civil society needs to engage with and challenge the policies and programmes of other bodies, including government and health organisations, in the struggle against the epidemic.