HIV/AIDS success threatened by war - report

HIV/AIDS rates in northern Uganda are higher than the rest of the country due to ongoing civil war, says a new report by the international aid agency, World Vision. Massive displacement, poverty, lack of healthcare, and the high prevalence of rape as a weapon of war have all contributed to the high number of HIV infections. "National prevalence rates for Uganda are estimated at 6.2 percent and declining, but rates in war-affected areas are almost double that of the national average, at 11.9 percent," the agency noted. Uganda has won international acclaim for reducing the HIV infection rate from around 30 percent in the early 1990s, but the report warned that many of those gains could evaporate if the war was not brought to an end. View the report: Pawns of Politics: Children, Conflict and Peace in northern Uganda http://www.worldvision.ca/home/media/PawnsOfPolitics.pdf