Human Rights Watch | Health GAP | Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) | Advocates for Youth
www.healthgap.org
For Immediate Release:
AUGUST 26, 2005
CONTACT: Sharonann Lynch, Health GAP: +1 646, 645 5225; Jodi Jacobson, CHANGE: +1 301-257-7897; Jen Nagle, Human Rights Watch: +1 212 216 1831
10 MONTHS AND COUNTING:
THE CONDOM CRISIS IN UGANDA
AFRICAN ACTIVISTS CALL FOR END TO ARTIFICIAL CONDOM SHORTAGES AND ABSTINENCE-ONLY HIV PREVENTION STRATEGIES
WHEN: Monday, 29 August 2005, at 10h00 EST (17h00 Uganda, 15h00 Nigeria, 16h00 South Africa, 15h00 GMT). The call will last for 1 hour.
SPEAKERS:
- Stephen Lewis, United Nations Secretary GeneralÕs Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
- Zackie Achmat, Chairperson, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa and Co-founder of the Pan-African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM)
- Beatrice Were, ActionAid Uganda; member, Health Rights Action Group and Positive Women Leaders
- Jodi Jacobson (moderator), Executive Director, Center for Health and Gender Equity
HOW: To sign up for the call free of charge, please provide name, outlet, and a number where you can be reached at the call time to Sharonann Lynch: email salynch@healthgap.org, Tel +1 (646) 645-5225. Or to dial-in toll free from the U.S. call (800) 268-8047. To dial-in from outside the U.S., call +1 (312) 461-0644. Transcripts will be available 36 hours after the teleconference.
BACKGROUND: U.S. and Ugandan government policies are exacerbating a dramatic condom shortage in Uganda, the African country best known for its successful HIV prevention efforts. Some 32 million quality-approved condoms remain impounded in government warehouses while the U.S. government ramps up financing for abstinence-only approaches to HIV prevention. Religious groups are undermining confidence in condoms throughout the country and contributing to misinformation about their effectiveness. According to Ugandan AIDS activists, the governmentÕs actions will undermine community efforts to reduce HIV prevalence and HIV transmission. These trends away from scientifically sound, evidence-based prevention strategies are occurring in Uganda and in other countries hard-hit by the AIDS epidemic, such as Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia.
Activists will brief reporters on:
- A campaign launched by Ugandan activists, 10 months and counting: UgandaÕs zero condom policy, protesting the condom crisis and resisting the abstinence-only agenda supported by the Government of Uganda and the Bush Administration.
- The rise of anti-condom rhetoric in sub-Saharan Africa, the critical shortage of condoms in Uganda, and the influence of U.S. President George W. BushÕs global AIDS policies on programs to prevent HIV.
- Calls by the Pan-African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM) for African governments to resist U.S. pressure and ensure that condoms and safer sex messages are supported in HIV-prevention programs.
For more information, including a fact sheet and timeline, go to: http://www.genderhealth.org/uganda.php
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