Condom Use Drops to 24% in Uganda

Only 9 percent of men aged 40 to 49 years used a condom when they engaged in extramarital sex in 2018, according to Dr. Daniel Byamukama, the head of the HIV prevention division at the Uganda AIDs Commission.

Byamukama said condom use is continuously declining from 38 percent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2018. He added that while the general prevalence of men aged 40 to 49 is 14 percent, prevalence among men in this age bracket who engage in extramarital affairs is highest at 25 percent.

He said this should worry the country as its undoing previous awareness done by activists like Lutaaya and other interventions geared towards prevention of HIV which is highest among men of that age group who are believed to be giving young girls the virus.

Dr. Byamukama revealed this as Uganda marked Philly Bongoley Lutaaya day on Thursday. Lutaaya is remembered for being the first prominent Ugandan, a celebrated musician to give a human face to HIV/AIDS in Uganda at the time when there was a lot of stigma for a disease hitherto cushioned in myths.

Before dying of AIDS in 1989 at the age of 38, Lutaaya had spent his remaining healthy time writing songs about his battle with AIDS and giving guidance on prevention to especially students as he engaged in campaigns that were taken to churches, schools, and other public spaces.

Dr. Kirusa Karuga, the UNAIDS Uganda country representative said Lutaaya was calling for combined efforts to deal with HIV as a public health problem.

-URN