The Ugandan Ministry of Health reported in December, 2004 the current infection rate in Uganda is 4.1%. Since the pandemic began, one million Ugandans have died of AIDS, and in 2003, they lost 100,000. There are now two million orphans in the country. Of the 1.2 million Ugandans living with AIDS, 100,000 urgently need ARV's, but only25,000 are receiving them.

In the northern provinces, still involved in a civil war with the Lord's Resistance Army, (LRA), AIDS rates are twice as high as the rest of the country. The LRA kidnaps many young girls from neighboring villages and gives them out as 'wives' to officers. Even if they manage to escape, they are often rejected by their families and resort to prostitution to survive.

TASO. the AIDS support organization, says that in one province, 83% of people surveyed still believe AIDS is caused by witchcraft.

A traditional healer, Kasule, is living with HIV. He has lost two children and a wife to AIDS. He has formed an organization called Nakifuma Traditional Healers ASsociation, which receives training and support from an NGO, THETA. 1700 other traditional healers have received training. Three million beneficiaries have accessed improved services from these traditional healers. The training includes AIDS care, counselling, infection control and hygiene. The healers have links with health centers, so when they fail, they refer their patients to modern doctors. They also campain for abstinence, being faithful, and using condoms. Since many patients prefer traditional means of healing, this is a valuable resource in the fight against AIDS.

The Monitor, in Kampala, reports on a traditionwhich is promoting the spread of age. The Maasai Tribe has a tradition that a woman does not just marry one man, she is considered a wife to all the men in the same age group. So whenever a man visits the home of another man in the same age group, the actual occupant leaves the house and the visitor has the wife as long as he stays. Although their are no actual statistics, this practice is spreading AIDS like wildfire in the district.

In the Rakai Province, where the AIDS epidemic was first identified, the use of condoms has increased from 2% to 66% today, inspite of the fact that most of the population is Catholic.

In Uganda, two million orphans are being fostered by one-third of all households, the already meager income of these households has been cut by an average of 26%.

UNAIDS reported at the end of the Bangkok AIDS Conference that Uganda's HIV/AIDS estimate has been revised downwards to 4.1% of adults who are living with HIV/AIDS.

The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council recently received a grant of sh100m which will be used to mobilize and educate Muslims on HIV/AIDS concerns so they may assist children orphaned by AIDS.

A national HIV Sero-Behavioral Survey is being conducted by the Ministry of Health. It targets people from all over the country who will be given interviews and blood tests. The blood will be screened at the Virus Research Institute in Entebbe. It should help establish an accurate number of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

Uganda is the first East African nation to launch a national program to enrich foods to improve the health of the nation. It is widely recognized that poor nutrition hinders the body's ability to fight infections, including HIV. Maize flour will be enriched with vitamin A, iron and B vitamins, and edible oit will be fortified with vitamin A,

The UN Sec-Gen'l's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in AFrica has said free ARV's should be distributed to all AIDS victims in Africa, and especially to the children displaced because of the civil war in northern Uganda. He said he was overwhelmed by the number of people with HIV infection brought about by the long war; HIV prevalence rates were more than double those in the rest of the country. "The large number of widows and orphans need support as well."

The government of Uganda will supply free ARV's to orphaned children and pregnant mothers, it was announced in late July. It was also announced that all patients who need ARV's will get them free of charge by December of 2005.

President Museveni joined other African Heads of State to protest that the IMF had been dishonest by refusing to take the blame for failures brought about by their policies. They issued a joint communique at the end of their meetings. "We also noted that when programmes fail or do not work out as exzpected, countries have, in the past, taken all the blame. However, the IMF, of course, also makes mistakes. We welcome moves to greater openness about such mistakes. Recognition that neither side is infallible will help us design stronger programmes."

Several women belonging to a group called Uganda Women's Efforts to Save Orphans, (Wweso), have launched a new group, onem aimed at empowering ordinary women to raise their incomes and stop depending on men. The group will foster unity and the socio-economic welfare of its members and the community through self-help projects.

In late 2003, a long-awaited Domestic Relations Bill, which reforms existing family laws and ensures women's equality and justice within marriage and at divorce, was tabled in Parliament. The bill decrees that either partner can refuse to have sex on reasonable grounds, including fear of disease. If the bill is passed, marital rape will be a civil and criminal offense. The bill challenges the common notion that when a woman says "I do," at her wedding, she can no longer say, "I do not," to sex. The bill also tackles traditional customs such as bride-price: money and/or goods paid by a man to his intended bride's family. Critics say the custom reduces women to sexual property and traps them in abusive mattiages if their parents cannot or do not refund the money.

An editorial by The Monitor of Kampala notes that many equate using condoms to immorality. They say that condoms are good only for prostitutes, migrants, or those who cannot be faithful. The Monitor notes that many girls, especially in war or conflict area are forced into sex with no choice to abstain or be faithful. "The high rates of teenage pregnancies say it all...Turning condom use into a moral issue makes no provision for people living with HIV/AIDS who for the past decades have made condom use part and parcel of their sex lives for purposes of protection against re-infection and infection others...Faithful...partners use condoms as family planning."

The AIDS Global Fund has donated sh78m to support 200 HIV-orphaned children. The money will be used for micro-grants to households, especially child-headed households.

The European Union has developed an 'Everything but Arms' (EBA) program which is a market access opportunity; duty and quota-free to enable least developed countries to export their products, (excluding arms), to the EU. African countries are required to live up to standards of health and safety. Uganda National Bureau of Standards is promoting quality assurance, and laboratory testing of products. The main products for export are fish, beef, fruits and vegetables.

An interesting group is organized in the district in south-eastern Uganda. It is called Mukeno District Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (mudinet). This is the first African NGO formed by Africans to address the needs of those infected and affected by AIDS. The group is organized into support groups in 16 of the 28 sub-districts. Members attend workshops on AIDS prevention, human rights, and ways they can continue living fulfilling lives. Through the network, thirty groups have obtained funds for income-generating projects. Mudinet activists hand out condoms, distribute school uniforms, and other clothes and bedding to orphans, and assist in malaria control by handing out mosquito nets. The AIDS support organization, Taso, has now established branches in many parts of Uganda to provide a variety of services, including handing out ARV's.

Finally, Uganda has begun a number of major road construction projects to improve access for rural parts of the country. State Minister for Transport, Andruale Awuzu, said the project was aimed at ensuring the population living within areas of new road construction were informed about AIDS, and how to prevent infection.