AIDS and malaria cost Uganda over a billion dollars a year in lost wealth, President Yoweri Museveni said Monday. The AIDS epidemic costs Uganda $702 million a year while malaria costs $348 million a year, Museveni told a meeting of African health ministers. Uganda's gross domestic product is about $6 billion. "All these costs we incur are both direct and indirect. Comparing it with how much we earn from coffee, this loss is several times bigger," Museveni said. Uganda has about 1.2 million HIV-positive citizens, and 947,552 people have died of AIDS-related illnesses. Health ministers and other government officials from 14 countries are meeting as members of the Commonwealth Regional Health Community for East, Central and Southern Africa, which gathers every three years.

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