President Museveni has said that one of the key underlying driver for HIV/AIDS is poverty because it leads to gender based violence and therefore contributes to new HIV infections.
The remarks were read for him by the Vice President Edward Ssekandi Kiwanuka during the commemoration of the World AIDS Day at Busana grounds in Kayunga district over the weekend.
Museveni said Uganda’s policy and approach towards HIV/AIDS has been characterized by openness spearheaded at the highest level of government since the 1980s.
He said that although the freedom fighters had defeated dictatorship and murderous regimes, the NRM was faced with a new challenge that if wasn’t checked would greatly affect national development especially in the labour and market fields.
Museveni said that priority prevention efforts should focus on customs and traditions which are a pattern of behavior that is transmitted from one generation to another.
He said cultural institutions should be utilized to save mankind from these negative customs and traditions like wife inheritance, polygamy and wife sharing which are significant in HIV/AIDS transmission.
Museveni called for behavioral change especially among youths if the spread of HIV/AIDS is to be checked.
