Ugandan AIDS Clinic Opens Wing Specializing in HIV Services for Elite

Uganda's AIDS Information Centre in July opened an "executive wing," offering discreet HIV testing and counseling services for government officials, business people and other members of the country's elite, whom health workers say play a "major role" in the spread of HIV in the country, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Health workers consider wealthy urban African men to be "core transmitters" of HIV, but the fear of stigma surrounding the disease has led many men to seek treatment at private clinics or refuse to be tested for the virus, according to the Monitor. HIV services offered in the wing cost five times more than the services offered in the rest of the clinic, but the wing offers clients extended hours, "absolute privacy" and a separate entrance, according to the Monitor. Since opening in July, the wing has served about 100 clients, about the same number that the regular clinic sees in a single day. Staff members are working on ways to advertise the clinic's services while remaining discreet and hope to move the executive wing to a more "suitable location," such as a downtown office building, according to the Monitor (Scheier, Christian Science Monitor, 11/18).

Additional information on AIDS in Uganda is available online from kaisernetwork.org's Issue Spotlight on AIDS.

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