By Chris Mugasha
BUSHENYI: Ahead of the World AIDS Day celebrations, Authorities of Bushenyi District have named areas with high HIV prevalence rate in the district.
The areas which have been tagged as hot spots with consistently higher HIV burden are; Kizinda town, Butare, Mashonga, Rwentuha town council, Ishaka and Akashanda trading centre in Kakanju sub county.
So, if you are in Bushenyi or if you want to visit Bushenyi and you want to enjoy the other part of social life, go to the above areas ready with condoms in your pockets or move with HIV testing kits or visit, enjoy and leave without engaging in any love affair, the authorities have warned.
The district authorities have indicated that the current estimates indicate that Bushenyi’s HIV prevalence of 8.0% is above the national average of 4.9% with the above hot spots being the hosts of the bigger percentage.
According to the District Health Officer (DHO) Dr.Stephen Bwenkingo Twinomugisha, within Bushenyi, prevalence fluctuates across sub-counties, with some communities recording higher infection rates than others due to some socio-economic activities there, population movement and health-seeking behaviors.
Caption: Kabagarame pork market; Despite being a happening place in the district, it has been named among the drivers of HIV prevelence in the district.
Twinomugisha also disclosed that several factors continue to drive new infections in Bushenyi, including risky sexual behaviours among youth, the several institutions of higher learning (with a noted rising number of new HIV infections among young people), emergence of several hotspots with many bars and lodges, significant number of tea plantation workers and several truck drivers being a highway to Kasese and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The DHO further attributed the prevalence to several travellers into the district especially due to proximity to Queen Elizabeth national park plus the famous Kabagarame pork weekly market.
He also adds that the issues of low condom use, multiple sexual partnerships, alcohol and drug use, gender-based violence in families/homes, limited male engagement in testing and stigma have fueled the prevalence rate.
A place like Kizinda town, is one of the areas hosting majority of bars and lodges and having a significant number of key populations especially sex workers in the Western region.
Twinomugisha said they we have put in place various measures to curb new HIV infections which include; functionalizing the District AIDS Committee that is chaired by the District Chairman, emphasizing the multi-sectoral approach to HIV Prevention and involving the education sector, community based services, engineering, commercial office, the PLHIV networks and others in addressing issues that previously contributed to rise in HIV infections.
“We have intensified condom distribution across the hotspots. We also hope to get more condom dispensers in addition to the 38 that are around the hotspots,” Twinomugisha explained.
He explained that they have also intensified HIV testing especially across hotspots to ensure people know their HIV status and get appropriate support. “We have intensified the several biomedical prevention methods too and additionally ensured that 95.7% of the clients that are on antiretroviral therapy have viral load suppression,” Twinomugisha noted.
According to the DHO, they have also strengthened communication to address stigma and discrimination, as well as working with the Community Based Services department to address gender-based violence issues.
The District Chief Administrative officer Sanyu Phiona said mainstreaming HIV and AIDS across all departments of Planning, Community-Based Services, Human Resource, Education and Infrastructure development, Finance, Production and Health will ensure that the epidemic is addressed not as a Health sector concern alone but as a cross-cutting development issue.
Bushenyi is to host this year’s World AIDS Day celebrations slated to take place on 1st.December 2025. The celebrations will take place in Kizinda town and the President Gen.Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is expected to preside over the celebrations which will run under the theme; Building a Sustainable HIV Response to end AIDS.
Uganda was one of the first countries in Africa to acknowledge the AIDS epidemic, reporting its first case in 1982. Since then, the country has made tremendous progress in combating the disease.
HIV/AIDS has been a major public health concern in Uganda for over three decades. The disease spread rapidly in the 1980s, with infection rates peaking in the mid-1990s. End.
