Aids deaths dropping - Uganda
2004-09-23 22:26
Kampala - Aids-related deaths have declined in Uganda from 100 000 in 2001 to 70 000 last year, claimed Uganda Aids Commission chief Kihumuro Apulli on Wednesday.
"In 2003, up to 70 000 people died from Aids-related illnesses, another 75 000 were new infections, while 73 000 got full-blown Aids, but all this was on the declining side," said Apulli.
"In 2001, at least 100 000 people were dying every year from the disease," he added.
Apulli was reacting to a report by a non-governmental organisation on Tuesday that the number of HIV/Aids cases in Uganda might be nearly three times as high as official figures suggest.
Major Rubaramira Ruranga, who says he has been living with the virus for the past 21 years, alleged after doing research in districts across Uganda that the prevalence rates were found to be as high as 30% in some areas, and that access to antiretrovirals was poor.
Apulli dismissed the claims, saying they were based on unscientific research.
He said the country had 22 ante-natal sites where blood samples were taken from pregnant mothers, analysed and computed and these gave the prevalence average rate of 6.1%.
About a million people were infected with HIV, while almost a similar number had died since the disease was first diagnosed about 22 years ago.
About 120 000 Ugandans are are in need of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), but only 25 000 of them have access to them.