USAID targets Uganda's HIV-positive women

HIV-positive pregnant women in Uganda are set to benefit from a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant, local newspaper The Monitor reported on Monday. The funding comes as part of USAID's new initiative to provide HIV/AIDS drugs to one million mothers in 14 countries around the world. Spokesman for the US embassy in Kampala, Michael Gonzales, said Uganda had already received US $7 million to enhance the country's existing HIV/AIDS drug programme over 18 months. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that some 90,000 women in 17 districts were granted access to antiretrovirals through the existing programme in 2002. The 13 other countries targeted by USAID are Haiti, Guyana, Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.