Remarks at the National Commemoration of World AIDS Day

Your Excellency the President of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

Honourable Minister for the Presidency, Ms. Milly Babalanda

Honourable Miniter of Health, Dr. Ruth Aceng

Cabinet Ministers present today

Members of Parliament

Government Representatives

The District Leadership

The Board and Leadership of the Uganda AIDS Commission

Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and Heads of Missions

Colleagues from the United Nations

Religious Leaders

People Living with HIV

Members of civil society working on HIV and AIDS

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

All protocols observed

It is a great pleasure for me to be at this World AIDS Day national commemoration in Rakai.   This particular location is nostalgic for the World as it was the spotlight in the early 1980s when the community started describing a disease that they called slim. The action of the community in coming forward to report a strange disease that was affecting people in Rakai and leading to death, was very critical; and it is apt that we celebrate the role of communities here in Rakai.   On behalf of the United Nations, I thank the people of Rakai for their actions then and their actions now that have contributed in controlling the spread of HIV.

Your Excellency, Uganda has demonstrated to the World what can happen when you combine strong political leadership, good science, solid health systems and a good community response to address epidemics.   Uganda did it for HIV, for COVID-19 and recently for Ebola.  These are remarkable achievements and must be celebrated.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are left with only seven years to achieve our commitment to end AIDS as a public health threat.   Many of us already know where efforts must be directed but allow me to highlight three points:

• We have 54,000 annual new HIV infections, 20,000 of which occur in young adolescent girls and women. These can be stopped through providing young people with information, tools and services to protect themselves while at the same time reinforcing positive parenting.
• We need to ensure that pregnant and breastfeeding HIV positive women and their partners access adequate support to prevent HIV from passing on to their newborn babies – the Ministry of Health estimates that there were an estimated 6000 such new infections last year.
• It is important to ensure that people living with HIV who already know their status are on treatment and are supported to reach viral suppression.

Your Excellency, it is notable that the Ministry of Health recently launched the National Plan to End AIDS in Children by 2030.   This is a step in the right direction and will support Uganda to accelerate efforts to end paediatric AIDS.  I would like to congratulate Uganda and to re-inforce the UN’s commitment to work with the Ministry to ensure that we can achieve this goal. 

This World AIDS Day is more than a celebration of the achievements of communities; it is a call to action to enable and support communities in their leadership roles. World AIDS Day 2023 highlights the need to unleash the full potential of community leadership to enable the end of AIDS:

• Communities’ leadership roles need to be made core in all HIV plans and programmes and in their formulation, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. “Nothing about us without us.”
• Communities’ leadership roles need to be fully and reliably funded to enable the required scale up, and be properly supported and remunerated. “Not ending AIDS is more expensive than ending it.”
• Barriers to communities’ leadership roles need to be removed. An enabling regulatory environment is needed which facilitates communities’ role in provision of HIV services, ensures civil society space, and protects the human rights of all, including of marginalised communities, to advance the global HIV response. “Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower.”

Today Communities are leading World AIDS Day, and across the world are shaping the events and tailoring the detailed calls to their specific needs.

The UN Secretary - General has reminded us today that AIDS is beatable and to quote him …“Let’s finish the job by supporting communities to end this scourge in their neighbourhoods, their countries and around the world”.

Thank you.