On May 19, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs held a hearing to discuss the HIV/AIDS crisis in Uganda. Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) opened the hearing by saying that the “worldwide crisis posed by the AIDS pandemic is growing worse everyday.” However, he added, “in the midst of this human tragedy, there is a glimmer of hope. Something different is happening in Uganda.”
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) agreed saying that “the bottom line is that Uganda’s multifaceted approach to combating AIDS was successful.” He continued by saying that while it is “important that we recognize both the value and learning from the Ugandan experience…one country’s model is not necessarily precisely the right model for every other AIDS-affected society.”
Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Anne Peterson discussed a recent study published by USAID on Uganda’s “successful battle against HIV/AIDS.” She explained that under President Musevina’s leadership, an ABC message has been taught to Ugandans in order to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. According to Dr. Peterson, by promoting the ABC message—“abstain, be faithful, and if necessary use a condom,” the rate of HIV/AIDS in Uganda has “fallen to about 5 percent in 2001.”
Sophia Mukasa Monico of the Global Health Council also stated that in Uganda, “infection rates have declined from 21 percent to six percent since 1991.” She noted that Uganda’s national policy “charges all Ugandans…with the responsibility of being actively involved in AIDS control activities—within their mandates and capacities—in a coordinated way, at the various administrative and political levels down to the grassroots level.” As a result, Ms. Monico said, “the foundation of the massive social mobilization has given birth to the results that constitute the success of Uganda.”
In his testimony, Dr. Edward Green of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies said that in 1987, the Ugandan Ministry of Education implemented HIV/AIDS prevention programs within the schools and while “condoms were part of the AIDS education for youth, the emphasis was on persuading children to postpone sexual activity until they were older, or until they were married.” Dr. Green also expressed his concern that “American political debate over abstinence versus condoms has contributed to monogamy or partner reduction being overlooked.” He urged the subcommittee to recognize Uganda’s ABC model “for what it actually is—a comprehensive approach to AIDS prevention that recognizes that people are different and therefore a range of behavioral options for AIDS prevention needs to be presented, not just one or two.”
Recently, both the House and Senate approved a global HIV/AIDS bill (H.R. 1298) that would provide $3 billion in each of FY2004 through FY2008 for HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria programs.
