Interview with Maj Felix Kulayigye, defence force spokesman

For the past two decades the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) has been at war with rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army in the north of the country. As the conflict has dragged on, the region's HIV infection rate has risen from almost nil to nine percent, one-and-a-half times the national average. However, The new peace process offers hope for both an end to the fighting and a more effective response to the pandemic. IRIN/PlusNews spoke to UPDF spokesman Maj Felix Kulayigye. Below are excerpts of the interview.

QUESTION: How extensive is the pandemic in the Ugandan army?

ANSWER: We are obviously concerned about HIV in the army. After all, over the duration of this conflict we have lost more soldiers to HIV/AIDS than we have in combat. AIDS is a powerful enemy: in combat, soldiers can rely on their collective efforts on the battleground to defeat the enemy, but with HIV, protecting oneself and surviving takes individual effort, which is much more difficult for us to deal with.

Q: What HIV services does the army provide to its personnel?

A: Every unit has a medical department that provides preventive messages and information on how to handle the virus if you have contracted it. We use leaflets, teaching programmes, and provide free guidance and counselling to our soldiers. We also provide free condoms to all our soldiers to protect themselves.

Q: And for soldiers who are already HIV-positive?

A: When they get to the stage in their illness when they need treatment, we give them ARVs [antiretroviral drugs]; we also give the drugs to members of their family who need them. They are also accorded supplementary feeding.

When they get sick in the bush, we remove them from combat situations and treat them at the unit level, brigade level and then division level. If they are very seriously ill, we treat them at the army referral hospital in Mbuya [in the capital, Kampala]. We also have a very good working relationship with the district hospitals in the conflict regions, such as Kalongo in Kitgum and Lacor in Gulu; they treat our sick and injured soldiers and we pay them for it.

Q: The UPDF has recently been accused of halting the recruitment of HIV-positive soldiers and preventing HIV-positive soldiers from going for further training. Is this true?

A: No, statements we made earlier this year on the subject were taken out of context. When soldiers are being recruited, they go through a medical exam, which tests for everything, all kinds of illnesses - TB, hepatitis, diabetes, not just HIV. If someone is found to be suffering from a condition that would limit their ability to perform military duties, we then decide whether it is serious enough to prevent them from carrying out their duties.

Now, when soldiers test positive for HIV and fall ill, we give them less strenuous activities and less rigorous training. If we continue to send this sick person into battle or into rigorous training programmes then we are shortening their life. It is certainly not true that we end their military career - there are several UPDF soldiers whose sero status is well known, who are currently enrolled in training programmes.