CAF: Global Initiatives - Uganda

Children's AIDS Fund
P.O. Box 16433
Washington DC 20041

Toll-free:
(866) 829-1560
(800) 557-8529 FAX

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CAF’s first staff member went to Uganda in the last 1980s to work for several months with a traveling AIDS prevention drama team focused on educating youth.

Over the past six years CAF has worked with Uganda government and private sector leaders to bolster indigenous prevention programs that were instrumental in dramatically reducing the number of Ugandans infected with HIV, support orphan projects and initiate treatment and care programs.

In 2005 opened a CAF Uganda office to implement programs as well serve as liaison with partners and donors, including AIDSRelief and USAID. CAF programs are linked with the goal of providing comprehensive HIV services to those served.

Program Focus:

1.	HIV/AIDS Care & Treatment
	The first treatment program began in 2003 supported by CAF with private sector contributions. Today CAF manages two HIV clinics, Family Hope Centres in Kampala and Jinja, providing family centered HIV care. In addition, CAF supports two clinics founded by the Bushenyi Medical Center (BMC), Kabwohe and Katungu, located in the western rural district of Bushenyi. BMC was founded by Doctor Elioda Tumweisgwe, who is also a member of the Uganda Parliament and serves as Chairman of the Parliament’s HIV Committee. All treatment and care sites are part of the AIDSRelief consortium led by Catholic Relief Services and funded by the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.

2.	HIV/AIDS Prevention
	Under a grant from USAID, CAF Uganda implements a prevention program reaching youth ages 10-24 with messages of abstinence and faithfulness. The Uganda Youth Forum, an initiative of Uganda’s First Lady Mrs. Janet Museveni, is a collaborative partner in this initiative. Seventy trained peer facilitators will reach 50,000 youth in 2008 with prevention messages through multiple educational sessions and activities that are community-based and coordinated through local government councils to ensure coordination of messages and ongoing follow-up. An outreach to parents, guardians, caregivers and community leaders is a critical part of this program.

3.	HIV/AIDS Orphan Projects
	CAF provides support for numerous orphan projects through private contributions. CAF partners include: The Migyera UWESO Training Institute founded by the First Lady’s initiative Uganda Women’s Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO) and located in Naksongola District Living Hope Orphan’s School in the Nateete section of Kampala, and Terry Duffy Home founded by He Intends Victory and is located in Jinja. CAF funds have facilitated completion of buildings, purchased cows for animal husbandry training, provided food, school uniforms, and educational materials and school tuition.

CAF Global Initiatives

Uganda Facts:

At the end of 2003, UNAIDS estimates that 530,000 adults and children were HIV positive, approximately 270,000 of them women and 84,000 of them children from birth through age 14. This represents a decrease from the 2001 numbers of approximately 100,000 individuals.

UNAIDS estimates that in 2003, 940,000 living children from birth through age 17 were orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

By Ugandan government estimates their national rate of HIV has fallen from 21% in 1991 to approximately 6% in 2001 as a result of their multi-sectoral approach to HIV prevention based on A (abstinence messages targeted to youth and unmarried individuals), B (be faithful messages targeted to those already married) and C (condom use messages targeted to those who continued to put themselves at risk for HIV through sexual activity).
Age of sexual debut increased from age 14 in 1990 to age 16 in 1995, effectively helping limit the number of lifetime partners young people would have and as a result reducing their risk of contracting HIV.

Children's AIDS Fund

P.O. Box 16433

Washington D.C. 20041