The Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau, a health department of the Uganda Episcopal Conference has received a waiver to continue administering Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in all health facilities under its management.
The “Limited Waiver” dated February 8th 2025 and sent to all Catholic Medical Directors and Health Facility in-charges, ART Coordinators under the HIV Care and Treatment and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Activities Approved under PEPFAR Limited Waiver; includes and not limited to; HIV Testing Services, Supply Chain Management, Pediatric and Adolescent Specific Considerations, and Advanced HIV Disease treatment among others.
According to the Assistant Executive Secretary UCMB, Dr. Ronald Kasyaba, before this waiver all Catholic health facilities totaling to 300 where ART is being administered had secured drugs for at least two months supply from the Joint Medical Stores and were ready to care for their clients who are HIV Positive.
Dr. Kasyaba hastened to add that despite the panic caused by the Executive Order by U.S President Donald Trump that froze all funds provided through USAID for 90 days, the Catholic Church is keenly observing the environment with protection of lives high on its agenda.
According to the statistics from the Ministry of Health as of 2024, the prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15 to 64 in Uganda is 6.2%, while the prevalence level among females is 7.6% and 4.7% for males. This leaves a total of 1.4 million Ugandans living with HIV/AIDS and 90% of these enrolled on ARVs.
By Francis Jjunju
10 February 2025
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