Project Details

HIV/AIDS sensitization
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HIV/AIDS sensitization

  • Status : Running
  • Location :Uganda / East Africa
  • Project Started : 2019-01-05
  • Project Duration : 1 year
  • Target Location : Country wide - ,

Project Goal:
To reduce the rate of HIV infection rate.

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Main Objective

To encourage people to change sexual behavior and to practice safe sex at all times.

Description

HIV/AIDS prevalence is still high though the level of sensitization has slightly reduced in Uganda. The level of prevalence among the youths and the target population is increasing. This is as a result of increased youths (girls) involvement in sex trade for a living, mother to child infections, low sensitization among the youths and children due to limited sex education etc. This has resulted into increased dropouts from schools as children drop out to look after their sick relatives, increased HIV/AIDS infections and death among youths/children, etc. It is therefore of paramount importance that children and the entire community are involved in HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns, at school, homes and in the community, through child friendly counseling, behavioral training, awareness messages at schools and general sensitization of the community.
There is increase in HIV/AIDS stigma. Negative attitudes mainly affect persons with HIV/AIDS and their families (and especially their children), but also have implications for workplaces and communities. Stigma can therefore be a barrier not only to identifying HIV/AIDS as a problem in a community but also to defining prevention, care and mitigation responses.

In Uganda, it is widely believed that rural populations are aware of HIV/AIDS and that this knowledge is enough to initiate behavior changes and prevent the spread of the epidemic. While most rural men and women in the regions have indeed heard of HIV/AIDS, it cannot be assumed that all are adequately informed about the epidemic and able to act upon this knowledge. Information in rural areas is often very limited and social, economic and cultural barriers, particularly gender barriers, are formidable obstacles to behavior change. Children in school are often put aside from the education campaigns because of social and cultural barriers.

About 96% of sexually active Ugandans are not yet HIV positive. It is vital that we do everything we can to prevent new infections. Education and awareness campaigns, condom distribution and testing are important ways to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. We cannot afford to wait to take action because there are already about 70 AIDS related deaths in Uganda every day. We have to talk openly about HIV and AIDS and make sure that everyone understands the danger of unprotected sex, and the responsibility they have to protect themselves and their partners. The silence and stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS must be broken and replaced by openness, good communication and compassion.

The impact of HIV/AIDS has far deadly implications to the families, children, communities and the nations. An HIV/AIDS poor family cannot be productive to the national grid as it affects their social and economic productivity. After death, children are left homeless and orphaned, at times they are also infected through mother to child and these children cannot go to school. Because we are addressing the root causes of children&
vulnerabilities, it&
important that HIV/AIDS programs are integrated in all our day to day activities through drawing up wills to ensure that widows and their children, regardless of sex, can inherit property, keeping children in school, etc and capacity-building to help communities and community-based organizations (CBOs)/NGOs to conduct HIV/AIDS impact assessments and accessibility to funding and micro grants.