Uganda AIDS Commission

According to UAC, the management of strategic information is central to the achievement of its goals and is embedded in all of the Commission's strategic objectives. Along with coordinating activities and research, the UAC website indicates that Uganda has contributed to the pool of knowledge about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the response through research efforts by individuals and various research organisations. The UAC website promotes sharing of research findings and issues on the management of HIV/AIDS research. The website plans to host an online database of upcoming and completed research projects in the country.

In 2006, Uganda joined several other African countries to declare 2006 as the Year of Accelerating HIV Prevention. The national launch also served as an information-sharing forum, culminating from a 4-month research and priority-setting consultation process that featured a rapid assessment exercise establishing the drivers of the epidemic and effectiveness of current prevention interventions, and the development of a country road map for accelerating HIV prevention over the next 5 years.

According to UAC, Uganda has prioritised prevention of HIV transmission since 1986 through intensified HIV/AIDS awareness and sensitisation campaigns and behaviour change communication (BCC) under the ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms) model. The communication strategy is a multi-sectoral approach, with actors from various backgrounds participating to communicate to identified groups within their contexts. As the country addresses stagnating prevalence rates since 2000, reviews have reflected that the concerted communication efforts have also generated challenges of fragmentation due to limited coordination of actors, which leads to duplication, uneven coverage, and sometimes inconsistent and/or conflicting messages.

Following a mid-term review of the National Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS (NSF) 2000/06, UAC coordinated partner dialogues to develop strategies for strategic HIV communication, especially for young people. The dialogue resulted in the joint conceptualisation in 2003 of a national, multi-sector multi-media campaign that was later to be known as the Young Empowered and Healthy (YEAH) campaign. YEAH is a partnership between stakeholders, young people, and the media and centres around a radio serial drama, Rock Point 256, which is broadcast on 10 radio stations in 4 languages.

HIV/AIDS

According to the UAC website, since 1982, when the country's first cases of HIV were detected on the shores of Lake Victoria in Rakai district, cumulatively an estimated 2.6 million Ugandans have been infected and 1.6 million have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS-related illnesses including 76,000 in 2005 alone. For many years, AIDS has been and is still a leading cause of adult disease and deaths. It is the fourth leading cause of under-5 mortality, directly influencing the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Adult life expectancy currently is at 48.9 years (50 years for females and 48 years for males), yet it is projected to have been 56.9 years without AIDS. AIDS is also considered one of the leading causes of poverty in the country.