Kampala Key, Vulnerable and Priority Populations (KVP) News

 Background And Road Trip Report-2019 Through MARPS in Uganda, we have directly been supporting 622 LGBTIQQ in form of: 1. Providing regular counselling and guidance 2. Those who were diagnosed HIV+ve have been linked to ARV care (37 of these are now in Kenya and 217 are in Uganda) 3. Housing support to 39 ( the 37 refugee/asylee seekers were provided with housing while I was in Kenya and made sure they have food, are linked to ARV care, have been provided with two projects for income generation and airtime to keep them connected. The other two are: a beneficiary in Kasese and one in Munyonyo. These houses have two extra rooms and can be used as shelters in case of an eviction emergency. 4. Supplies and Logistics: I traveled with high nutrition tinned foods, multivitamin packet/nutrition supplements for 55 beneficiaries and these have been distributed fully. 5. I have provided money to 12 beneficiaries to enable them attend clinics in the next 4 ARV-refill events. 6. The Southern a...

MARPS In UGANDA: COVID-19 Response  And Recovery Plan January 202 2 - December 20 30   1.     Generate and raise awareness around COVID-19 Prevention 2.     Address Housing, Active Life, Nutrition, Dignity-Affirmation and Sustainability (HANDS) 3.     Advocate for Vaccine Equity 4.     Advocate for Social-Economic Empowerment 5.     Use the Focus days to share about an aspect of prevention such as: a. Thematic Monday: Occupying oneself at home while self-isolating; games, house chores, reading, writing, studying online b. Thematic Tuesday: Chatting up friends, checking on them and promoting companionship using WhatsApp or video conferencing c. Thematic Wednesday: Talk, write or research about COVID-19 news and share on Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or word of mouth among close friends d. Thematic Thursday: Care for the sick, Addressing Gender-Based Violence, Elimination of V...

Community Systems Strengthening (CSS) and Integrated Service Delivery (ISD) These recent years have seen organizations addressing equity, intersectionality, inclusivity, diversity of persons and needs, dignity-affirmation, and regard for respectful conduct. We are increasingly addressing setting contexts for empowering each other and promoting humane conduct.   These are themes that have evolved over time, and they are the operative words that make the SDGs achievable. The SDGs relate to the reduction of inequalities at the heart of all approach es to guide and drive action in every country and community. A comprehensive framework is needed for transformative actions to confront these inequalities and, more broadly, respect, protect and fulfil human rights in the HIV /TB/Malaria response. By reducing the inequalities driving the AIDS epidemic, we can close the gaps for HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and support by 2025 and put the world back on course to end AIDS by 2030...

Silos And Glamour Activism Some 25 years ago, little did we know of the trends that HIV/TB/Malaria Prevention would take . Funds poured in to promote advocacy for the various Key Populations which ranged from Long Distance Truckers; Persons with Disposable Cash; Fisher-folk; Uniformed Personnel; People Living With HIV/TB; Substance, Injecting, Drug and Alcohol Users; Single-Mothers; Sex-Workers; LGBTIQ+; and Indigenous Populations. H owever, these funds did not go further to serve that moment when people were struggling, when they faced catastrophic events and AIDS limited t he activities, they engaged in . The room for relentless support was not accommodated by many organization leaders who dismissed suffering. Many made remarks such as “in this day and age of abundant ARVs how come so and so is suffering?” They concluded that, “those who were suffering brought it upon themselves.” We know better than making such blanket statements. Living long with HIV comes with its nuanced exp...

Serving Uganda’s Key Populations and Priority Populations with Diligence and Dedication Pain Relief for People Living with HIV And a Nuanced Care Continuum Living long with HIV comes with its consequences. A group of 13 beneficiaries that we have supported, shared with us stories that surprised us even after all these years caring for Persons Living with HIV. One of them revealed that at one time she contemplated committing suicide because she experienced excruciating pain in the back, feet, and arms. She did not reveal this immediately until after a time when we were having a casual talk on smells, scents, and taste.   She just dropped a nugget out of which I probed harder. She remarked that she would have appreciated the smells, scents, and taste of food if only the intense pain she felt was not a bother. That is when we made plans to her to care where she was given pain killers to be taken every three hours. She began to fill better after 6 months but was told she would h...

 Do something about: 1. Poverty 2. Education Access 3. Community Organizing 4. Sexual Exploitation 5. Lack of Accountability 6. Economic Development  7. Malaria 8. COVID-19 9. Housing Stability 10. Food Security 11. Sustainability

Malaria Prevention Programmes: Social and Behaviour Change Working Group (SBC WG) Case Management Working Group (CMWG) Surveillance, Monitoring, & Evaluation Reference Group (SMERG) Malaria in Pregnancy Working Group (MiPWG) Vector Control Working Group (VCWG) Multi-Sectoral Working Group (MSWG) Partner committees Advocacy & Resource Mobilisation Partner Committee Country/Regional Support Partner Committee Strategic Communications Partner Committee

A Harvard Trained Infectious diseases Specialist, Mitchell Tsai claims that “Under virus-rich regime (e.g., virus concentration is 100 times of the 50% infection dose), wearing face masks cannot effectively lower the infection probability. In contrast, under virus-limited regime (e.g., virus concentration is equivalent to or lower than the 50% infection dose), wearing face masks can lead to a substantial reduction in the infection probability.”  For more:  https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abg6296

 A Story of Hope! Pieces of Multi-media art that has put someone who showed exceptional gifts at an early age into school. She was part of the Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Programme. A designer bottles maker shines! #EndTB #EndHIV #EndMalaria

Surviving HIV for long comes with different needs and agencies. These are also contexts for intersecting identities. Response by medically trained persons or social workers or even lawyers is quite different. We came in to address the lack of Social Justice Medicine that was missed by the funding policy that promoted cataracted “Human Rights” that upheld a community to court pipeline and was well funded since late 1990s. This missed the community to collective life promoting aspirations pipeline. We came to promote the latter. We were formed as the Good Samaritan Uganda (Good Sam UG) in 1997 to care for Children Living With HIV; over time we worked with male sex-workers and eventually the LGBTIQQ under the SOGI call; later we took up the name Most at Risk Populations’ Society in Uganda and our niche was 5 pronged: Consolidate work with CBOs into a collaborative we call the “Society,” to create contexts and the connective tissue for a collective community ; Connect all benefici...