Devex, One year after US aid freeze, HIV care in Africa is in retreat
… In central Uganda, a warning came over the local radio stations: HIV services would shut down for 90 days, including the provision of lifesaving antiretroviral treatment. Juma Bwanika heard the report and started counting his pills. They would not last three months. In the 13 years since he started the daily treatment to suppress his HIV infection, Bwanika had never missed a dose. But after the announcement, he decided to cut back to one pill every three days. Uganda was able to maintain basic HIV testing and treatment services despite the U.S. order, although other interruptions were wide-ranging. Among them, Trump’s directive shut down U.S.-funded community support efforts, including the local outreach workers in central Uganda who would have informed Bwanika that the announcements were wrong and services were still available. A month later, he started worrying about skipping doses. Though he could scarcely afford it, Bwanika took a day off from farming and walked the seven miles to see whether the HIV clinic at Kiboga General Hospital had reopened. He was astonished to find it had never closed. When a clinician learned Bwanika had been rationing his medicine, she ordered a test to see if the virus had rebounded. When he returned in early April for the results, they showed that it had. Bwanika was devastated to learn he would need regular testing to determine whether the virus had developed resistance to his current treatment. He worried about his health, but also about how he would afford so many trips to the clinic. “Ever since this order from Trump, I am seeing death near me,” he told Devex.