Charles Kawuma recognises how impactful the community-led approach has been on rallying both the community and healthcare workers around addressing paediatric HIV. Charles highlights that youth voices and mothers living with HIV have been elevated and the gaps in care between community and health centres reduced. He works as a health educator and HIV focal person in Mubende District, Uganda and is involved in the Towards an AIDS Free Generation in Uganda programme.
“The youth voices in HIV are now more noticeable. It has helped us know the issues faced by the youth and what to address. For example, we no longer work through generalised services and use more youth-friendly services. Using the youth peer educators supported by PATA (a Breakthrough project partner) has helped us with awareness raising to reach more young people than ever before. We have realised a closer connection between our health centres and the communities which has improved client tracing, referral and ultimately treatment outcomes. Much as we persistently have few health workers, these trained youths and community structures help with mobilisation and basic health education to reach fellow young people and other targeted groups such as mothers, caretakers, and exposed infants”.
He recognises that using multiple pathways in the community, at the health centre, and ensuring that the various community workers are well trained and linked together is crucial for paediatric HIV prevention and care.
“Moving forward, we are sure we can sustain a number of efforts started because of the technical capacity built within our health officers. I have observed a culture of ownership built within our community health workers, the youths, and health officers which will keep the changes alive.”
Community Breakthroughs Storybook
Charles Kawuma’s and many more inspiring voices on community-led interventions supported by Aidsfonds and our partners aimed at ending paediatric HIV in some of the worst affected areas in Uganda, have been captured in an comprehensive storybook. This Community Breakthroughs – Community-led Interventions for an AIDS Free Uganda Storybook is available for download.
The Paediatric HIV Breakthrough Partnership is an ambitious initiative committed to ending paediatric HIV in regions most urgent. It aims to strengthen collaboration between community, health facilities, government, health care providers and civil society, placing communities at the heart of the response. Aidsfonds, together with the Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric Foundation, PATA and UNICEF, collaborates in this partnership which was initiated and funded by ViiV Healthcare Positive Action.
Communities
Adolescent girls and young women, Children
Sidaction and Aidsfonds are pleased to jointly launch a call for scientific proposals for the year 2026, aimed at accelerating advances in HIV cure research.
The aim of this call for proposals is to fund research projects exploring mechanisms or strategies that will contribute to achieving a cure or remission for HIV. Projects may investigate mechanisms to target the viral reservoir or enhance immune-driven control, the development of new therapeutic concepts, as well as research in the social sciences related to HIV cure or remission.
Through this call, we aim to support research that will ultimately lead to major biomedical breakthroughs, foster social acceptance of cure interventions, and promote an HIV cure accessible to the largest possible number of people living with HIV worldwide.
From Barrier to Bridge – How a Network is Building Bonds Between Police and Communities
From Barrier to Bridge – How a Network is Building Bonds Between Police and Communities
For the longest time, the absence of law enforcement at the table has been a critical missing piece in the jigsaw of HIV prevention and public health interventions. Whether through prejudice, lack of access to services, stigma and discrimination, public health outcomes are greatly affected by criminalisation. The lives of LGBTIQ+ people, sex workers and people who use drugs are disrupted daily through state sanctioned violence and criminalisation enacted by law enforcement. Recognising this gap, Aidsfonds, in close collaboration with its partners stepped in, bringing together communities, health service providers and law enforcement. Munya has been at the heart of this work, helping translate that collaboration into tangible change.
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