10th September 2014
The Guest of Honour
Honourable Ministers
Honourable Members of Parliament
Permanent Secretaries
The Director General of Uganda AIDS Commission
The Director General of Ministry of Health
Development Partners
Representatives from the Local Governments
Representatives from the Private Sector
Dear Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I
feel greatly honoured and privileged to participate in this important
partnership forum which marks the 7th Joint Annual HIV/AIDS Review. On behalf
of the
Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organisations, I would
like to take this opportunity to welcome all the distinguished participants to
this forum.
Ladies
and Gentlemen
The
7th Joint Annual Review is carried out in the spirit of partnership
between all
Sector
stakeholders and takes the comprehensive view of the national response to
HIV/AIDS. During
this meeting as we assess the performance of the National Strategic Plan (NSP)
and use the platform to generate consensus for the identified priority
interventions for the new NSP, it is our strong
hope that we shall jointly hold discussions on emerging issues on selected
topics and agree on the progress on the response, recommendations, priorities
and resolutions for the upcoming NSP 2015/16-2019/20.
The Uganda Network of AIDS Service
Organisations raises the attention of the delegates here, the government, the
UN system, development partners and all other stakeholders to the following
issues.
Ownership and Leadership
of the Response;
Guest of honour, we would like to acknowledge the good working relationship
between the Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organisations and the Government of
Uganda; The government has continued to demonstrate its commitment to the
national fight against HIV/AIDS through various ways, for example on 31st July, President Yoweri Museveni signed
the HIV and Control Bill into a Law. Even though it has some unacceptable
clauses, this
law has positive provisions like a nationwide fund for HIV care, and outlaws
discrimination against HIV-positive individuals in workplace and schools. We
also recognize the great support from the AIDS Development Partners. Ugandan
households contribute substantially towards the national response at the
individual, family and community levels.
Recommendation: The revised NSP should advocate
for the revision of the new law and removal of clauses that criminalise HIV.
Millennium Development
Goal No.6 targets, among others, to have halted by 2015 and
begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. We are deeply concerned that given the
current rate of progress, Uganda has no chance to achieve this target. Tables are turning on
the Uganda HIV/Aids success story. The gains made in the last two decades are
fast getting eroded by the increasing number of new infections. Statistics from UNAIDS show that Uganda is the third highest contributor
of all new HIV infections in the world — third to South Africa and
Nigeria. A new report released by the UN agency on July 16 puts Uganda in
third position among the top 15 countries that accounted for more the than 75%
of the 2.1 million new HIV infections that occurred last year. Recommendation:
The revised NSP should clearly provide
specifications on how different stakeholders, including UAC, MOH, CSOs, Local
Governments, Political leadership, youth among others are going to get involved
in the revival of strong campaigns in the HIV/AIDS response.
Financing of the HIV and AIDS Response; Uganda has continued to
steadily increase investments in the health of her citizens. The health sector
spending, that also includes those of HIV/AIDS, has increased from as low as
Shs239bn in 2001 to Shs852bn in 2013. In the last five years, this significant
increase in resource allocation to the health sector resulted in doubling the
total health expenditure from Shs418bn to Shs852bn between 2007-2013. However the National response is heavily
dependent on international donors; at the level of
spending on HIV and AIDS described above, it means that with more than 80%
spending coming from ADPs, Uganda’s national HIV/AIDS response is heavily
dependent on external support as out of the US$ 1.747bn used in the national
response between 2007/08 and 2012/12, a total of US $1.565bn was contributed by
international donors. According to the NASA
study that included on and off budget expenses known to government as well as
private spending that is not usually captured by government indicated that
between 2008/09 and 2009/10 funding from public sources contributed
approximately 10.5% of expenditures on HIV/AIDS while private out-of-pocket
sources contributed roughly 21%; the largest source of funding came from
donors at 68%.
We are grateful to
the development partners on whose support; the civil society has largely
depended to make a contribution to the national response. Your continued support will be critical in
addressing the pending gaps. We strongly recommend that the revised NSP projects a target annual increase in the
proportion of domestic funding going into the national response.
It is estimated that up to 1.6million Ugandans
are currently infected and with at least 1.3 million who need to be enrolled on
anti-retroviral treatment, following WHO’s new guidelines that require a
patient to be started on antiretroviral treatment when their CD4 cell counts
falls below 500. We have managed to put 577,000 people, with another 240,000
expected this year, but this still have a gap close to 500,00 that cannot be
enrolled on treatment for lack of resources. Recommendation; As drugs for treating AIDS related
conditions are available, the NSP should ensure that all those eligible are
provided the necessary treatment. In
order to reach zero new infections and deaths due to HIV/AIDS, as the national
response succeeds in prolonging the lives of People Living with HIV, there will
be need to invest in prevention to drastically reduce the number of new
infections. We also recommend task shifting
to allow community health workers to do rapid HIV testing in the public sector
and nurses to be trained to initiate and maintain people on treatment.
The essence of smart
investment in HIV is based on sound evidence, science and shared responsibility,
can lead to millions of lives saved and an AIDS-free generation. It is also
envisaged that the investment will ensure that significant returns can be
achieved on a sustainable basis. This will require more political commitment
and tough decisions to be made at political, technical and operational levels.
NB.
The event took place at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala between 10th-11 September. The above statement was read by Dr. Raymond Byaruhanga the Chairperson of Board of Directors, UNASO.
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| Dr. Raymond Byaruhanga reading the CSO Statement at the 7th Joint Annual AIDS review |
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