Uganda is set to host the International Conference on AIDS also known as ICASA in December 2021.
Among the issues to be discussed are developments in supporting those already infected with HIV including the introduction of a new drug, to take away the inconvenience suffered with taking daily ARVs.
Uganda competed with Kenya for the bid to host the event, which is the biggest on the continent against the fight of HIV/AIDS.
The conference brings together leaders, experts, academics, scholars, shareholders, and civil society activists from Africa and other continents to discuss how the world can use science to combat the HIV/AIDS scourge in Africa.
The 20th ICASA conference will be held this year in Kigali, Rwanda under the theme, ‘AIDS -free Africa—innovation, community and political leadership.’The target of ICASA is to achieve an AIDS-free Africa.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in Uganda, the prevalence of HIV among adults (15-64 years) is 6.2%, which is equivalent to 1.2 million people of the same age bracket that are living with HIV in the country.
Luc Armand Bodea, the executive director ICASA on Wednesday paid a courtesy call to the parliamentary committee on HIV/AIDS and rallied members to give full supports to the conference.
He said that conference is aimed at mobilizing local funds for the fight against HIV/AIDs which has been highly depending on donors funds. Nelson Zoba, the director general Uganda AIDS commission, noted that the conference is a great opportunity for Uganda to learn from experiences from other countries in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“Battling HIV epedemic for the last three decades, we have made lots of progress but we still have a big burden to deal with and because of that in addition to all the interventions that we have here at home as a country, we also look else where to other countries to learn lessons,” he said.
He said the journey to end HIV/AIDS by 2030 is the right direction claiming that the 99 strategies which is aimed at diagnosis 90% of all people living with HIV/AIDS will work accordingly.
“2030 is part of the sustainable development goals,” he said.
Florence Wamala, the chairperson of the parliamentary committee of AIDS pledged full support of the conference saying that the conference will not only benefit Uganda on the strides against AIDS but also economic terms due to the number of foreign delegates that will flock in the country.