Uganda has achieved its 3 by 5 target for anti-retroviral therapy six months ahead of schedule.

A total of 64 024 Ugandans are currently receiving anti-retroviral therapy, well above the government target of 60 000 by the end of this year.

Uganda has set a target of providing treatment to every eligible Ugandan by 2007.

In a statement released this week Dr Sam Zaramba, Director General for health services in Uganda said one of the main contributing factors had been the overall strengthening of the health system.

He said the strengthening of the health system had started as far back as 1992 at the Joint Clinical Research Centre and was carried forward by the UNAIDS and Ministry of Health HIV/AIDS drug access initiative launch five years later.

‘€œ(All of this) has resulted in improved infrastructure, capacity building, equipment for health facilities and advocacy for the reduction of the cost of ARVs and laboratory agents,’€ said Zaramba.

Other contributing factors identified by the Zaramba included the scaling up of HIV counseling and testing resulting in increased demand

for HIV/AIDS care services; improved Human resource capacity through training; strong partnership with stakeholders including the private sector and donors; easier availability of drugs; and a well coordinated ART program run by the Ministry of Health.

‘€œThe Government of Uganda appreciates the effort of all Ugandans and partners towards the achievement of our target.

Support has been received from several partners including, the World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, United States Government, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), Uganda

Cares and others,’€ said Zaramba.

Zaramba was confident of achieving the treatment goal by 2007 if the country continued to access low cost drugs and diagnostics, was able to increase partner support and motivate and retain its skilled health workers.

Uganda’s success in reducing high HIV infection rates is widely accepted as the result of high-level political commitment to HIV prevention and care, involving a wide range of partners and all sectors of society. Same-day results for HIV tests and social marketing of condoms and self-treatment kits for sexually transmitted infections, backed up by sex education programmes, have helped reduce very high HIV infection rates.

One of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to experience the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS and to take action to control the epidemic, Uganda is one of the rare success stories in a region that has been ravaged by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

While the rate of new infections continues to increase in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda has succeeded in lowering its very high infection rates.

Since 1993, HIV infection rates among pregnant women, a key indicator of the progress of the epidemic, have been more than halved in some areas and infection rates among men seeking treatment for sexually transmitted infections have dropped by over a third.

In the capital city Kampala, the level of HIV infection among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics fell from 31% in 1993 to 14% by 1998.

Meanwhile, outside Kampala, infection rates among pregnant women under 20 dropped from 21% in 1990 to 8% in 1998. Elsewhere, among men attending STI clinics, HIV infection rates fell from 46% in 1992 to 30% in 1998.

A progress report released by the WHO last month revealed that South Africa was treating between 97 000 and 138 000 people while 866 000 were still waiting on treatment.

The 2004 ante-natal survey revealed that 29,5% of pregnant women tested in South Africa government clinics were HIV positive, compared to 27,9% in 2003.

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