HIV/AIDS was reduced drastically by Abstinence Education
Perspective by James B. Baba
In the 1980s, HIV/AIDS prevalence in Uganda had become a very serious problem.
In 1986, President Museveni, right after becoming the Head of State, considered HIV/AIDS as the most serious threat facing Uganda, thus starting a relentless campaign to fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Because of his leadership, HIV/AIDS prevalence has dropped drastically from 30% in 1992 to 5.5% presently, according to a recent USAID/UNAIDS study.
The key strategy is known as ABC. A is for Abstain, abstinence from sex, refraining from sex before marriage. B is to be Faithful, be faithful to your spouse, have sex only with your spouse after marriage.
C is condom, only if you cannot control your sexual desire, should you use condom.
In the ABC strategy, the first priority is for Abstinence.
President Museveni says AIDS is a good disease.
Why? Because if you abstain from sex, if you do not go out to look for trouble, you would not be infected by AIDS.
AIDS is not the disease that is infected by touching or caught in the air. It is infected mainly through sexual intercourse.
Therefore abstain until marriage. Next is to Be Faithful. However, there are some who cannot control their sexual desire and fail to be faithful to their spouses.
To this category, we advise the use of condom as the third way. The ABC strategy has been instrumental in reducing HIV/AIDS prevalence in Uganda.
Many countries including Japan have the tendency to promote mainly condom education.
Yet it is very necessary to promote abstinence and fidelity as the first priority.
Religious belief has also contributed to HIV/AIDS prevention in Uganda.
Having sex outside of wedlock is considered sin against God. So people respect and abide by God's teaching; against sinning.
No we in Uganda have set up our next goal. It is to move to zero percentage of HIV/AIDS infection.
It may take 5 or 10 years or more. We are now focusing on prevention of mother to child infection in order not to have newly infected babies or infants.
We will also provide AIDS drugs to all infected patients. We are determined to succeed and stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda.
Ganbarimasu!
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