1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Uganda
  • News

Fishing communities missing out on HIV treatment

Senegalese fisherman carries a load of fish onshore. Local fishermen have protested that foreign vessels licence by the government are overexploiting fish resources, prompting authorities in May 2012 to revoke licences of 29 foreign fishing trawlers Otto Bakano/IRIN
Senegalese fisherman carries a load of fish onshore in Dakar (July 2012)
Fishing communities in in Uganda do not have adequate access to life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), posing a possible setback to the country’s fight against HIV, new statistics reveal.

As of June 2012, just 15 percent of 6,225 fisher folk - considered one of the country’s most at-risk populations - in need of ARVs were receiving it, according to the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) in its annual review of the Uganda National AIDS Strategic Plan.

Officials blamed low literacy among this segment of the population as well as the remoteness and inaccessibility of the islands where many of them are found.

“Our HIV intervention among the fishing community in Uganda remains low and a big challenge. Most of these people stay in islands, which are hard-to-reach areas. Most of the islands lack health facilities,” Peter Kyambade, most-at-risk populations coordinator at the Ministry of Health, told IRIN/PlusNews.

“These people keep moving from one island to another. If we are to access them, we need motorized boats and fuel, which is so expensive. The fight requires a comprehensive approach. We can’t put health facilities on every island.”

Lack of information, stigma, side effects, weak linkages between health facilities and programmes, stock-outs of ARVs, understaffing at health facilities, limited health centre accreditation to offer ARV therapy [ART], and the migratory nature of the fishing communities were all cited as possible barriers to treatment.

Staggering rates

A 2011 study among fishing communities in the Lake Victoria Basin of Uganda found an HIV prevalence of 22 percent, more than three times the national average of 7.3 percent.

Although the Ministry of Health reported that over 700 health facilities were providing ART in government-owned and private health facilities, only 532 facilities were doing so by March 2012, according to the report.

Civil society organizations have petitioned the government to scale-up the provision of ARVs and prevention programmes for the most at-risk populations (MARPs).

“There is an urgent need for the definition of MARPs. UAC should commit on how to involve MARPs and on accelerating treatment and prevention programming for MARPs,” the organizations said in a 16 October ten-point plan.

At Katosi-Ntenjeru, a health clinic in Mukono that serves people from the country’s 52 islands, just 400 of some 1,500 HIV-positive people are currently receiving treatment.

“We have over 1,500 clients eligible for ART. However, as you can see in our shelves, we have over 1,100 dormant files. These people are eligible for treatment, but we can’t trace them,” Susan Kirabira, a counselor at the centre, told IRIN/PlusNews.

Lack of focus on fishing communities could jeopardize efforts to curb Uganda’s new HIV infections.

“If the fishing community continues to be neglected, it will be a source of infection to the rest of other people. These people come and socialize with the people on the mainland,” Reuben Kagwa Mubiru, programme manager at the Kyetume Community-Based Health Care Programme, an organization fighting HIV in the fishing community in Mukono.

In some districts like Kalangala, the US Mission in Uganda, through the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has launched a combination of clinic-based interventions, outreach programmes at locations such as boat landing sites, and home-based care to reach fishing communities.

so/ko/rz


This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Get the day’s top headlines in your inbox every morning

Starting at just $5 a month, you can become a member of The New Humanitarian and receive our premium newsletter, DAWNS Digest.

DAWNS Digest has been the trusted essential morning read for global aid and foreign policy professionals for more than 10 years.

Government, media, global governance organisations, NGOs, academics, and more subscribe to DAWNS to receive the day’s top global headlines of news and analysis in their inboxes every weekday morning.

It’s the perfect way to start your day.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian today and you’ll automatically be subscribed to DAWNS Digest – free of charge.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join