AIDS in Uganda — Clinical and Social Features

Abstract

The author, who has worked with AIDS patients in Uganda, sets out the scale of the problem in Uganda. The incidence of active tuberculosis is rising. The potential benefits of isoniazid prophylaxis are tempered by the financial and logistical difficulties in identifying and treating the estimated 1 million HIV-seropositive adults and possible development of drug resistance. If the adults become symptomatic at a rate of 12% per year 10 000 new cases of AIDS per month will occur during the 1990s (1000 per month in Kampala alone). The author therefore calls for the immediate stockpiling of drugs and the establishment of community-based programmes that can deal effectively with the caseload. Finally, the author describes the problems inherent in counselling, the value of which is not yet universally accepted by either patients or health workers, although an opeNness to dicussing the diagnosis of HIV infection does seem to be emerging as the disease spreads. The book: AIDS Care: Diagnostic and Treatment Strategies for Health Workers (Entebbe: AIDS Control Programme, Ministry of Health, Republic of Uganda, 1989) attempts to establish a realistic standard of care involving hospital, clinic and home care. With the use of 9 relatively inexpensive drugs plus antituberculosis chemotherapy a high degree of palliation can be achieved for many AIDS patients.