Before interviewing for residency, AUA student Jay Vithalani went to Uganda to volunteer for one month. While there, he partnered with a PhD professor from Spain and designed a small study to shed light on the status of HIV in Uganda. Their research paper “HIV Epidemiology in Uganda: survey based on age, gender, number of sexual partners, and frequency of testing” has been published in the PUBMED indexed Journal of African Health Sciences.
The aim of their study was to test and educate the community in the villages of Masajja and Kibiri of Wakiso district for HIV and safe sex practices. A sociodemographic survey was performed to obtain data for gender, age, number of sexual partners during the previous year, frequency of testing, and if they ever tested positive for other sexually transmitted diseases.
Here are some highlights from their findings:
- While 7 of the tested individuals were positive for HIV, 77 reported they had once tested positive for other STDs.
- Of the 7 HIV-positive individuals, 4 were female and 3 were male.
- Over half of the tested individuals reported only 1 sexual partner in the past 12 months
- The majority of the tested individuals reported getting HIV-tested every 6 months or less
The paper concludes that robust implementation of methods such as education and frequent testing can lower Uganda’s prevalence of HIV even further.
AUA would like to thank Jay Vithalani for his volunteer work in Uganda and for calling attention to this very important issue!
