The Uganda AIDS Commission has been asked to consider refocusing the available HIV prevention messages as a strategic method to re-energize the fight to eliminate the virus by 2030. The HIV status report by the Uganda Aids Commission indicates that Uganda has recently registered a decrease in the general HIV prevalence from 7.3 to 5.
1 per cent. The burden of infections however is still high among teenagers and youth who now account for 70% of the 5,000 new infections the country registers every week. Resident District Commissioners from the Masaka sub-region as Chairpersons of District HIV/AIDS Coordination Committees; have implored the Uganda Aids Commission to revise the current prevention messages to make them appeal to the youths, who are now at a higher risk of the infection.
During the regional symposium of Districts HIV/AIDS Coordination Committees-DACs, the RDCs observed that a bigger population of the youths have become complacent to the old prevention campaign messages that are not tailored to their generation. Paddy Kayondo, the RDC and DAC Chairperson for Kalungu district observes that unlike in the early days, the young generation has not witnessed languishing HIV patients, and as a result, they have developed laxity in the face of the threat. He calls upon UAC to revise the packaging of the HIV prevention campaign and adopt the earlier approach of passing out the messages through, short community and school plays, entertainment skits, and vigorous use of social .
