Kampala Key, Vulnerable and Priority Populations (KVP) News

What bothers me is the tendency for many well meaning LGBTIQQ organizations to talk big but do small. There is a tendency of some claiming to be representatives of entire LGBTIQQs. Entire? Yes! Then there are those who purport to take care of say, Lesbians but when the lesbians also demand for full womanhood self care kits then problems arise. Phones go off air or the lesbians demanding services to cater for their full womanhood are shut down. Come on, a lesbian is a woman first and foremost. Their womanhood has to be catered to. It is important that leaders do understand that they represent people and not just words i.e. "lesbians!" Speaking of which some people may be same-sex/gender loving but they do not identify as LGB! Yes! What counselling needs does your organization have for them? Please avoid the blanket statements that "our organization represents the entire LGBTIQQ!"  Having said that, break down your reports by numbers of LGBTIQQ you ac...

Kato you are a twin, somewhere you are now living a fuller life, you always saw all of us as friends, colleagues and co-advocates, I personally learnt a lot from you, I remember you asking the deeper right questions, you wanted to know what exactly, the LGBTIQQ needed to do to fight HIV, you were the first person who supported me in many ways, I recall the time we mobilized LGBTIQQ for HIV-testing, a phenomenal unheard of incidence, we did it, I remember the time we organized hotel-based advocacy, you were the orator and managed to debunk many myths, you left us too soon, we still have the anti-Homosexual sentiment, we have to organize and reorganize, say a prayer for our effort. David Kato: Courtesy of Henrietta Moore

What we mean when we say END TO HIV: communicating appropriately; Is Africa willing to go the entire 40 yards? 1. Prevention & Control Infrastructure needed for providing services 2.Community Mobilization and Organization 3. Testing to know one’s status 4. Attending clinic for individual assessment 5. Checking for or treating opportunistic infections 6. Checking for other viral infections 7. Pap smears 8. Screening for cancer ( breast, anal, oral, lung, prostate….) 9. Support to quit smoking 10. Health education 11. Provision of Information, education and Communication materials 12. Access to safe motherhood services 13. Access to Mother and Child Health Services 14. Diabetes screening 15. STIs screening 16. UTI screening 17. Anal screening 18. Pregnancy testing 19. Treatment for STIs/UTIs 20.Physicals 21. Mammograms 22. High blood screening 23. Mental health care 24. Referral services 25. Tetanus vaccination 26. Thyroid screening 27. Anaemia testing 28...

Online Trauma, Identity, Sexuality & Suicide Support Services-OTISSSS! +1415-202-4442 OR +1415-707-9564 Online Trauma, Identity, Sexuality & Suicide Support Services-OTISSSS! +1415-202-4442 OR +1415-707-9564 Online Trauma, Identity, Sexuality & Suicide Support Services-OTISSSSOnline Trauma, Identity, Sexuality & Suicide Support Services-OTISSSS? Online Trauma, Identity & Suicide Support Services-OTISSS? Online Trauma, Identity, Sexuality & Suicide Support Services-OTISSSS? +1415-202-4442 +1415-707-9564 Online Trauma, Identity, Sexuality & Suicide Support Services-OTISSSS? Thank you so much for being our friend. We are a group of people who want to support each other in leading and living quality life as gay, lesbian and Transgender people. We come here to answer the questions of sexuality, orientation, gender, identity, health, stress and depression. We know all these may lead to confusion and in some cases suicide. So, we come here to give each othe...

Dignity's Dignitism Stand up and say no to sexual assault, stand up and say not to any form of abuse anywhere, stand up and say no to unwelcome touches...Does that sound familiar? This is the right time for the LGBTIQQ movement to push for an "-ism" which addresses the root of all abuses. Dignity of persons! T he LGBTIQQ movement on the African continent should be pushing for an "-ism" in which dignity for persons is promoted. This is  "dignitism!"  whose goal on the African continent should be to entrench structures that promote dignity of persons (I mean all persons whether straight or otherwise). LGBTIQQ in Africa should talk of dignitism (from dignity) and use Western world models as lessons to learn from but not transplant from say, Sweden or Norway and implement in Africa without gauging what works and sustenance issues!  Copying The Feminism Playbook An enduring fibre of say, women marches, women movements  or women causes is the ...

The Idea of writing a story of abuse A friend of mine (Paschal), is on the path to a PhD in Social Work in the UK, and is a mentor who introduced me to a group of Gay writers from Kenya. The friend usually sends me links with a variety of thematic topics or article titles that we both discuss after reading. I find the articles very intriguing always given the fact that they provide another perspective about common issues we talk about regularly. This time around, my friend sent me a link showing how food justice issues can be used to remedy abuses for marginalized communities. It was a classic example of superior-inferior dichotomy; valued humans versus humanoid; Enforcers Vs. Abused and oppressor-oppressed dualism.... See:  Food Justice and Sexism . Food justice? Okay, I get it. That moment when one is assured of say housing/shelter, no harassment for who or what they believe in, one gets the right treatment and food security is assured. You get my point? Advocacy-splai...

Africa relies on development partners for a robust health system. She needs to involve all her institutions in entrenching judicious use of her vast mineral and human resources. Africa can use the mineral resources to invest in research and development. In the case of HIV Cure, she can set aside sums of money for ARV research. Research in the ARV medicines will enable Africa commit resources which can eventually lead her to have critical cure technologies and resources on the continent. The President of the U.S. President Donald Trump Jr. has plans to withdraw from that Global HIV Mechanism called Global Fund in which PEPFAR has been so pivotal. PEPFAR in full is U.S. President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief. The U.S. has committed $ 75 billion to-date. If the U.S. stays, it will commit another $ 4.3 billion to the Global Fund (GF). In Africa alone, this will keep 300,000 on ARVs from dying. It will also help avert 7.9 million additional HIV infections between 2017-2030. ...

Providing HIV-related care and prevention services needs all the support from the funding community. It should not be selective but should go both ways. In Uganda, funding has tended to go toward strategic litigation and not strategic holistic health /mental health. Organizations like Most At Risk Population’s Society in Uganda ( MARPS in Uganda) have had to make do with handouts from the founders and friends yet we we deal with cases that other organizations do not. We have trained or qualified staff to assess, manage, refer, provide the right counselling and guidance plus sacrificing money to support attendant recurrent expenses. This means managing scabies, rashes, headaches, grief after death, dysphoria related depression, evictions, or treatment for bruises and post trauma care. We have been there for the  sex-workers, LGBTIQQ and people living with HIV in Uganda. We do not go out on streets to tell people about our work or advertise our work. At MARPS in Uganda, th...