Honey moon is over: HIV/AIDS Control Bill is back


ACTIVIST FLAVIA KYOMUKAMA TRAINING LGBTIS ON HEALTH LOBBYING DURING UHSPA WORKSHOP
A motion moved on October 25,2011 to resurrect all bills that were shelved in the 8th Parliament means that the HIV/AIDS Control Bill is coming back and will be read for the first time in the 9th parliament for the first time before christmas break. But we are ready. We have recently been training each other on advanced lobbying

What we did in the eighth parliament (flash back)

Friends of Uhspa Uganda recently held a party to celebrate the intensive lobbying efforts for the last one year that yielded in the Parliament of Uganda dropping the HIV/AIDS Control Bill 2010, which alienated LGBTI rights to health as a Public Health Right. The Party held at Uhspa office gardens was wow!!. Mr Kikonyogo Kivumbi, the Uhspa Director and Ms Prossy Ssonko, a Board Member and Treassurer thanked the members and partners for the continued partnership to address unfair legislations.

Mr. Kikonyogo said the expiry of the HIV Bill with the 8th Parliament on April 13,2011 was commendable, and thanked all the Kuchus who turned up to take the petition and memorundum containing the views of LGBTI community to the Parliamentary Social Services Committee on April 8,2011.

He said LGBTIs are the only Ugandans who have no right to Post Exposure Prophylaxis because medical health workers and the police ask them funny questions when they seek assiatance. He said the achievement gave time to the activists to restrategise for the possible reintroduction of the bill in the 9th Parliament of Uganda.

Ms. Sonko said there was a need to celebrate the good working relationship among activists,unity and the courage that had yielded into pressure on the Parliament to drop the Bill.
She said Uhspa's position on criminalisation, and discrimination in access to treatment on the basis of sexual orientation had no place among civilised global society.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Open Urgent Appeal to HIV/AIDS Civil Society in Uganda to scale-back MSM HIV bridging population Infection rates on occasion of Marking World Aids Da

Image
Photo:Minority activists make a case for equal access to treatment before Parliamentary HIV/AIDS Committee.( L-R)Ms Macklean Kyomya (WONETHA), Mr.Kikonyogo Kivumbi (UHSPA)and Ms Daisy Nakato( WONETHA) Kampala, November 30,201O…. We, the leaders of Minority Rights Organizations in Uganda with Special interest in reversing HIV/AIDS prevalence rates among our constituencies; Aware of the important contribution of Ugandan Civil Society to best practices in Global management of HIV/AIDS, In full Solidarity with you our sisters and brothers in CSO in the genuine struggles ahead to better management of HIV/AIDS Uganda, Cognizant of the incredible contribution to past and ongoing research involving sex workers and LGBTI community in Uganda and other countries to the development and advancement of knowledge on Anti Retroviral Therapy, prevention, care and diagnostic regimes, currently benefiting Ugandans, Underscoring the important lobbying you do for Universal access to Anti retroviral Th...
Read more

'What's wrong with Lesbian Sex?' Asks Ugandan High Court Judge

Image
Kampala- November 26, 2010 A High Court Judge in Uganda has questioned the legality and assertions that two women in an intimate sexual relationship were “against the order of nature.” In a first to casting a shadow of doubt and unconstitutionality on the draconian Ugandan Penal Code criminalizing same sex relationships in Uganda, Justice Kibuuka Musoke wondered Friday in Kampala what wrong two intimate women in Love commit. “Two women…..Tell me counsel; …….what order of nature is violated here?!” Justice Musoke, asked a defense lawyer in a case in which three alleged gays sued a Ugandan tabloid for violating their Constitutional Rights. The defense lawyer had told a packed court that two of the plaintiffs (names with held) were lesbians, committing acts against the order of nature, and promoting homosexuality. He cited several internet sites where the photos of the plaintiffs are alleged to appear as gay activists. The defense lawyer also struggled to tell court that the plaintiffs ha...
Read more

Uganda LGBTI get 2nd chance to elect legitimate reps

Image
Efforts to increase LGBTI people’s and sex workers’ involvement in planning Ugandan health services are not going smoothly, reports Ugandan correspondent Kikonyogo Kivumbi. ( 76crimes article)  An election to choose representatives of those key population groups was ruled invalid on Wednesday, Jan. 21. As a result, those groups still have no official representatives on the Ugandan health policy panel known as the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM).   A new election is scheduled for Feb. 5. Representation for LGBTI people and sex workers is important because those groups suffer from a higher rate of HIV infections than the overall population. Among Ugandan men who have sex with men (MSM), the HIV infection rate is an estimated 12 to 33 percent, compared to 7.3 percent for all Ugandans. Uganda’s CCM oversees grants from the Global Fund (the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), which finances many of Uganda’s anti-AIDS efforts. CCM’s exist in every ...
Read more