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Ugandans contracting HIV for fun — doctors
A doctor takes a blood sample from a patient
What you need to know:
- Experts say the current surge in new HIV infections is mainly because people no longer look at the disease as a death sentence.
A Mildmay Institute of Health Sciences has in recent times registered an increase in people who eroticise HIV/Aids.
The so-called bugchasers intentionally go out to infect themselves with HIV safe in the knowledge that they stand to benefit from support for people who test positive.
Addressing journalists yesterday during the institute’s sixth graduation ceremony, Prof Sam Luboga, its chancellor, said the current surge in new HIV infections is mainly because people no longer look at the disease as a death sentence.
“Human beings do not listen anymore. They know the behaviours that lead them to danger and they decide to enjoy themselves and get the disease,” he said, adding “there are some people who are called bugchasers: They intend to get HIV because of the benefits HIV-positive people are getting and this is a known fact, which I expect the media to have picked up long ago.”
Prof Luboga’s comments were greeted by an almost immediate pushback. Dr Daniel Byamukama, the head of HIV prevention at Uganda Aids Commission (UAC), said such bugchasing used to happen long ago. He added that this was when people used to get support from the Aids Support Organisation (Taso).
Per Dr Byamukama, bugchasing in this day and age “is speculation.”
The UAC official added: “It is not something I can put my foot on because if they ask me for figures I don’t have them.”
The bugchasing claims come in the wake of UAC’s 2023 report that showed 52,000 new HIV infections were registered last year. The report also spotlight 17,000 Aids-related deaths among the estimated 1.4 million living with the virus in the country.
Yesterday the Mildmay Institute of Health Sciences, which started in 2018, passed out 604 graduands with certificates, diplomas and Bachelor’s degrees in different medical courses. These included medical laboratory technology, clinical medicine and community health, health informatics, public health nutrition, and clinical dietetics, among others.
Dr Jeff Sebuyira Mukasa, the chairman of Board of directors, said yesterday’s graduation coincided with 25 years of Mildmay’s existence in Uganda as a specialist HIV/Aids training and capacity building centre.
The institute has supported more than 120,000 people living with HIV to lead quality lives and has served at least two million Ugandans in 2022 alone.
“Since 1998, Mildmay Uganda has employed bold strategies to strengthen healthcare systems, enabling thousands of Ugandans to lead healthier and longer lives. Our efforts aim to empower the communities we serve to take charge of their own wellbeing,” he said.
Asked why they moved away from providing HIV/Aids services to training students, why Ugandans are deliberately going out to infect themselves with HIV/Aids, and how many new HIV infections they are getting, Edith Akankwasa the principal of the Institute, said they have not abandoned the HIV/Aids services. The institute, she added, provides comprehensive care, counselling, treatment and support to newly infected people.
“When we get you positive, we know that there is a partner somewhere and a family. We follow you up in the community, enrol you on treatment and ensure that you are adhering,” she said, adding, “We give socio-economic support, we follow up with the family and not just the individual.”
The principal further revealed that the institute—together with other institutions within Lweza campus—has been set up to complement each other in training, research, and treatment.
When contacted, Dr Stephen Watiti, the board chair for the National Forum of People Living with HIV/Aids in Uganda Networks in Uganda (Nafopanu), said most people he has interacted with are those who seem to be struggling with many partners who want to indulge them in sex.
He said some of the men insist they go together for blood tests to confirm whether the girls are HIV-positive.
The girls usually do not allow it because if the results turn out negative, it increases their chances of having sex with the men and yet they are not interested.
In other instances, Dr Watiti further noted, some people who are HIV-positive go out and look out for positive partners to live together as companions.
While this is okay, in other circumstances, there are people who are impoverished and mentally ill. These, the Nafopanu board chair added, want to influence each other into having sexual relations, especially in situations where one partner has high viral loads.
