Kampala Key, Vulnerable and Priority Populations (KVP) News

Context: Women-who-sex-with-women (WSW), Trans-persons (Trans), Intersex (I), men who have sex with men (MSM), sex-workers and Substance users do exist in Uganda.  They continuously present unique morbidity causes and stress related complaints at various health service points that require quick responses done with expediency, specificity and sensitivity.   Health is a: state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It may also mean: general condition of a  person 's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from  illness ,  injury  or  pain  (as in “ good health ” or “ healthy ”).  Health is not just a state, but also "a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. Using these definitions to calibrate a minimum standard calls for broad and swee...

The story of natural disasters is a story of displacement of entire communities; of deaths to humans and animals; of destruction of property; of disruption of social support systems. Families lose the  loved ones or commodities they took for granted like: family members, phones, radios, books, pets, money, clothes, shoes, medications and other life support things. It is also a story of natural events taking place and causing changes in how seasons progress; or crops grow;  as well as   changing the weather patterns we have been used to. Natural disaster stories are multiplied into the number of people affected beginning with those who are locals. Texas Houston City has a very large population reaching about 6.3 million. The land area of Houston is 669 square miles. If stories about the flood can be tagged to the population, Houston has 2,319,603 stories of the flooding. This is not counting the visitors to Houston around the time when the floods occ...

When HIV care is looked at as an assembly-line with the expectation of numbers of people treated, other than their single needs met then it misses the very intention of treatment. Rehema (not her real name), is in her late 40's and resides in Kawuku along Entebbe Highway. She is the oldest daughter of a family of six, five of whom are all living with HIV. A bigger part of the family land is semi-wetland. She has used the land to plant perishable green vegetables. She has been doing this for the last 15 years. She produces: carrots, cabbages, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, amaranthus and other types of perishable vegetables. She uses the money to provide food and other attendant needs necessary for a person living with HIV and on ARVs. To keep 4 adults who are above 18 years healthy and active, she engaged them in the tailoring project she runs at their home. She has contracts with schools to make or repair uniforms. This same tailoring project has been an opportunity to train...

Dear Chioma Igbokwe, In the 19th of August, 2017 article titled HIV EPIDEMIC LOOMS   you brought to the attention of the readership world a very important issue which, unfortunately is not given its due diligence. HIV/AIDS still looms large on the African continent. It has impacted all ranges of life. It has touched on the ways we deal with our own fears, ills and misfortunes as a collective humanity.  HIV has made many of us advocates in one way or another. One common thread for all advocates is the need to eradicate it. Eradicating HIV is also dependent on a chain of actors. It is also dependent on a chain of enablers (or disablers).  There are four downstream contexts your article should have mentioned too. Empowering grassroots with sexually active youth to negotiate for safer sex; provision of safer sex prophylactics; addressing an HIV service disparity that is common not only in Nigeria but other African countries; lastly, the average age of the d...

15th August 2017 ………..assign codes to frequently presented needs. Mark red for suicide; black for HIV in LGBTIQQ under 25 years and blue for HIV in those above 25 years; orange for nutrition support; pink for transport support to go to clinics; yellow for airtime for group leaders. Ugx. for nutrition; sundries; and hard cash for 4. The +++++ Whatsapp group has three members who inboxed for lubricant; four wanted us to meet physically for a drink. Ensure we send out rules and regulations. Our Whatsapp groups are not dating platforms. Insist on that Dr. T. The +++++++ Whatsapp group has 5 very well prepared debaters who infuse perspective to our daily assigned topics. Realized we should have pushed for a two track advocacy. To get back the public health Agenda in the mainstream side by side with litigation.   02:59am........Noo! I still need to talk to "Marked red" suspicion of voluntary overdose. Hope they get the money for food. 6:55am.....I gotta tu...

Eclipse! In Uganda the common speak during this cosmic drama is: “The moon (a glowing globe) is fighting the sun (the burning yolk)!” “The sun is fighting the moon!” The moon is an object that is mostly seen when the bright sun is blotted out or at night. The moon is nearer to earth, bigger and has a more marked round edge. At a regular time, the moon passes in a line that makes it block the sun.   A Solar eclipse  occurs when the m oon  passes between earth and the sun , thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon's apparent diameter  is larger than the sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across the earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometers wide. Not all countries witness a total solar eclipse at all times. Some do and others don’t. This is becau...

DePauw University is a nationally recognized education campus in Greencastle Indiana. It   provides a set of exceptional college experiences marked by  intellectual rigor  and shaped by a dynamic faculty. These experiences are further enhanced by an engaging  residential campus community  and a breadth and depth of perspectives inside and outside of the classroom. One such perspective that is part of the campus is the Queer Students of Color organization. We bring a story by Kaleb Anderson titled “HIV Tried Me. It Lost: My First Year In College” that appeared on 18th August 2017 on the Plus website. Starting college can be a challenging, especially after just receiving an HIV diagnosis. Kaleb Anderson faced both with superhero strength — and so can you.   For more you can read:  http://www.depauw.edu/ https://www.hivplusmag.com/stigma/2017/8/18/hiv-tried-me-it-lost-my-first-year-college “I started hosti...