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BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2025
On June 11, 2025, the Judiciary took an unprecedented step to close all courts in the West Nile sub region of Uganda, summoning all staff to gather at the Arua High Court premises for HIV counselling and testing.
The health camp organized in concert with the Uganda Aids Commission also involved screening for tuberculosis, blood pressure and cervical cancer.
This was a timely awareness creation event, according to Paul Matyama, the deputy registrar for the Arua High Court.
He encouraged the staff to participate to know their status and make use of the condoms availed as part of the program to protect against HIV/AIDS.
The activity organized by the judicial committee for HIV/AIDS aims to achieve the objective of the Presidential Fast-track Initiative on HIV/AIDS which aims to end AIDS as a public health threat in Uganda by 2030.
Festo Busenga represented the permanent secretary of the Judiciary who heads the committee at the Arau event.
He emphasized that deaths due to HIV/AIDS are still occurring at unacceptable levels while new people continue to get infected.
He said that there is not only limited to sensitization to upscale prevention initiatives but also creating conducive working environment to positive living people and also ensure adequate provision of health support.
Arua City Mayor, Sam Wadri Nyakua, said that the screening and awareness campaign was a noble cause because HIV is not like malaria which is spread by mosquitos but human behavior is the main driver.
“HIV affects the economic prosperity of society. When you are sick, you become unproductive and also a burden to other people, hence hindering their productivity too,” he elaborated.
At 3.1, the HIV prevalence rate in West Nile is lower than the national rate of 5.1 however, the urban centers still have higher prevalence and transmission rate.
Arua city and Nebbi lead the region with a 3.8 prevalence rate, closely followed by Zombo (3.7) and Pakwach (3.5) which is attributed to cross border trade, long-distance track drivers and break down of morals in the congested urban areas.
This according to Victor Rwengabo, the Mid-North zonal coordinator for Uganda Aids Commission, threatens the vision of achieving the 2030 target of zero new HIV infections, zero stigma and zero deaths from AIDS.
He said that about five people get infected with HIV in Uganda every hour and the majority of these are young people aged between 15 and 24.
Meanwhile Dr Stephen Watiti reassured the public that it is possible to stop these deaths through adherence to antiretroviral therapy and stop opportunistic infections.
