UGANDA – Uganda does not have enough condoms to combat its HIV/AIDS problem – and the United States is to blame, according to a high level United Nations official and several AIDS advocacy groups.Although the Ugandan government and a U.S. representative for Pepfar, President Bush’s emergency ABC program to combat AIDS, insist that claims of a condom shortage are untrue, advocacy groups insist that the number available falls far below what is necessary and appropriate. Critics claim that although the nation requires 120 to 150 million condoms a year in order to keep up with demand, a mere 30 million have been distributed to health clinics – and are no longer available. Condoms purchased directly have more than tripled in price and become unaffordable to many Ugandans, when they are available at all. Some men are said to have begun using garbage bags as condom substitutes.
Jodi Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity in Washington, D.C., described the situation as a result of “a dangerous and profound shift in U.S. donor policy from comprehensive prevention, education, and provision of condoms to focus on abstinence only,” thus denying essential information and assistance to those at greatest risk. The Bush anti-AIDS relief plan emphasizes Abstinence, Being faithful to one partner, and – if unable to do either of these things – the use of Condoms.
Ambassador Stephen Lewis, United Nations secretary general’s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa for the past four years agrees that “there is no question that the condom crisis in Uganda is being driven and exacerbated by Pepfar and by the extreme policies that the administration in the United States is now pursuing.” In Lewis’ opinion, Pepfar’s emphasis on abstinence is even more dangerous to the cause of AIDS prevention than its de-emphasis on preventative measures such as the use of condoms. Although the Ugandan government is providing condoms to prostitutes and truck drivers, Lewis is concerned about the inability of everyday men and women to protect against the deadly disease. Additionally, given Uganda’s past success in AIDS prevention, Lewis considers the current situation to be “the ultimate irony…”
Uganda issues a countrywide recall of Ugandan brand condoms last October, claiming that they were of inferior quality. This caused a shortage, resulting in higher prices – as well as a new tax for imported condoms. Tests performed in the U.S. on the condoms found them safe and effective, but Ugandan religious groups hyped the initial failure rate report in order to discourage their use. Dr. Mark Dybul, deputy coordinator of Pepfar and its chief medical officer insists that the country has no current condom shortage but that such a thing could occur if it does not receive current orders. Dybul claims that the Bush administration has authorized the purchase of 15 to 20 million additional condoms currently warehoused in Uganda in order “to tide them over” if a shortage does occur. Mike Mukula, state minister for health in Uganda insists that the country has no shortage.
This controversy arrives less than a week after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria suspended $201 million in grants to Uganda due to accusations of government mismanagement.
