Uganda & Ghana- Kuchus and HIV in Africa (2); The Failure of Africa’s Medics & Health Care Workers (3)

  

Continued from the previous post: Kuchus and HIV in Africa (2); The Failure of Africa’s Medics & Health Care Workers (2)

Uganda has actually had some great results with HIV prevention and care. It is deservedly praised…, as was lavishly commented on by the UNAIDS/PEPFAR/Global Fund joint statement.
Although the statement was taken quite negatively in Uganda, I think it was quite a ‘sucking up’ in many ways. The flattery, even evidence based, is quite a lot. Maybe Winnie Byanyima, knowing the Ugandan psyche thought it better to upload with lots of diplomatic nice talk to cushion the bite in the message…

If it was that, well, it was a dud.
Ugandans are quite consistent, and human. We embrace our prejudices with fervour and our prejudice to ‘homosexuality’  is the mother of all prejudices.Our doctors as detailed are also prejudiced. They are Ugandans!

But, we still expect better of them. A laughing stork Uganda demands people to blame. The medics are very convenient here…!
The Director General of Uganda AIDS Commission did explain the issue, though the article in the Daily Monitor relegated him to an after-thought. I guess it was more profitable for the paper to fan the flames of ‘Uganda is being bullied’!

Explains Dr Nelson Musoba, DG of UAC;

 

““they are just taking precautions and saying for communities that may be discriminated, ‘What steps do we want to put in place to ensure that they continue accessing treatment to ensure that they continue to access treatment?’”

 

Egg on our collective face as Ugandans. The conveniently reviled Americans were trying to protect our prize HIV/AIDS programme? The statement said so. It is our bad faith that read nefarious ‘colonialism’, ‘blackmail’, in their words. Prejudice twists clear thinking. Uganda collectively was a great example there.

But this begs the question, with Dr Nelson Musoba, Director General of Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) knowing these probable effects of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 on HIV programming, why wasn’t the Parliament of Uganda and the President of Uganda in the know? This is established science, this day and age of the HIV pandemic surely? It wasn’t ‘the Americans’ duty to inform our in-country experts.
Rumour was, Speaker of Parliament was so rushed to pass the bill UAC was not invited to the party. But, a lot of organisations came out detailing the probable effects of the proposed law. All that fell ‘on deaf ears’ in Uganda. No appeal to sanity could have stopped us passing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023.

Why did it fall to the US ambassador in Uganda to actually secure a promise from the President that the health services would not be subject to the Reporting mandate in the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023?
It is ridiculous when the conveniently reviled Americans seem to care more about our people than we do. It is shameful, and that shame tracks back to Uganda’s medics and health care workers, the Ministry of Health and the Uganda AIDS Commission.

The American envoy to Uganda actually commented this about Dr Jane Aceng, which makes me wonder what Uganda’s Minister of Health, a medical doctor, has been saying behind closed doors.

 

“She reportedly took issue with Health Minister Jane Aceng, who was not in the meeting, saying her disposition on the matter of homosexuality was likely to reverse years of gains in healthcare and particularly HIV/Aids treatment, largely supported by development partners.”

 

That is a loaded statement, particularly coming from a diplomat.

The same challenges are happening in Ghana. But, in their case, though there are medics and health workers who don’t understand, it seems the Ghana AIDS Commission has come out against the anti-homosexuality bill in Ghana.
And, for that temerity, Members of Parliament in Ghana are condemning the Ghana AIDS Commission.
I think that that is better than in Uganda where the Ministry of Health seem both ignorant and unwilling to state facts. The doctors responsibility is to state the facts, part of that responsibility for the power we hand to our medics and health workers.

In Ghana, the anti-homosexuality bill in parliament aims to stop or reduce HIV/AIDS programming to Ghanaian Kuchus. Why? Because HIV programming is actually ‘promotion of homosexuality’.
The bills in our parliaments, plural, aim to stop the heinous ‘promotion of homosexuality’.

If true, and Ghanaian MPs are refusing to listen to the Ghana AIDS Commission…, well, please don’t blame ‘the Americans’ for our own ignorance, and failure to be educated because of prejudice. We are sovereign in that.

It is the member of the clan who should point out that the elder didn’t wash face in the morning. Not to wait for a guest or visitor.
Yeah, and as an African, I am pointing out to my dear leaders and elders-, your are walking around naked, with unwashed faces. You are embarrassing us, please!

 

gug

Kuchus and HIV in Africa; The Failure of Africa’s Medics & Health Care Workers (2)

 

We esteem our doctors, medical and other health care workers tremendously in Africa. We should. In a continent with a dire lack of education, they are our educated elite. They also struggle to work under some pretty tough conditions, because of a lack of funds, lack of necessary instruments of care, and lack of political and other support.

With knowledge comes power, socially.

Medicine and the health sciences have a very rich background of study of my sexuality, because we are different from the common heterosexuality. It is not a new thing.
 I mean, we Kuchus (LGBTQ+) human beings, have been under study since life immemorial. We are a uniquely different part of humanity that persists in life to the contrary of expectations.

So, why are our African medical and health care professionals so clueless with regards to sexuality and other sexualities?
The excuse that it is not taught in African medical schools is not a good one. This is the internet age.
But our doctors have failed to explain issues. Yeah, Museveni asked twice, but I don’t think he wants a real answer… But his questions reflect a lot of the ignorance in Uganda. He is not wrong to ask our in-house docs. Even while he doesn’t listen.

Even lay people can educate themselves about a subject as interesting as homosexuality, and of course human sexuality.

The words of a Seniour psychologist and professor in Ghana pulled me down this line of reflection. I posted on it: - Kuchu Mental Health in Africa; The Failure of Africa’s Medics & Health Care Workers (1)

But, there is an even more immediate and urgent example of medics in Africa failing Kuchus as individuals and our nations collectively  because they are prejudiced on homosexuality. The case of HIV/AIDS.

When the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 was signed into law by the President of Uganda, UNAIDS/PEPFAR/Global Fund released a cautionary statement on the possible impact of the law.

 

“.., are deeply concerned about the harmful impact of the Ugandan Anti- Homosexuality Act 2023 on the health of its citizens and its impact on the AIDS response that has been so successful up to now.”

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“Progress has been made thanks to the implementation of large-scale prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care programs, all provided on the principle of access to health care for all who need it, without stigma or discrimination. This approach has saved lives. The strong health systems built to support the AIDS response serve the entire population of Uganda.”

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“Uganda’s progress on its HIV response is now in grave jeopardy. The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 will obstruct health education and the outreach that can help end AIDS as a public health threat.”

 

The resulting media storm was quite embarrassing. Shouts of ‘imperialism’, ‘colonialism,’ ‘promotion of homosexuality’, ‘blackmail’.
Winnie Byanyima, a Ugandan our country woman, currently Director General of UNAIDS was vilified and shamed in the papers and the people of her old constituency in Mbarara.

And why blame Uganda’s medics?

The issue was HIV/AIDS. Ugandan trained medical workers have a good grasp of HIV/AIDS. When UNAIDS, literally the World’s Most Important Specialist Doctor on HIV/AIDS comes out with such a statement, It was reasonable to expect Uganda’s HIV specialists to explain why UNAIDS was concerned. What was wrong? Why was there a problem? Why would PEPFAR, UNAIDS and Global Fund gang up on poor, homophobic Uganda?

And where were Uganda’s specialists to explain the problem?

They did. Medics say no to UN, US claims on gay Aids was the title headline in the Monitor.
The text revealed tremendous ignorance and our under current of homophobia. Of course these, our Ugandan medics, were much more believable than UNAIDS, even headed by Winnie Byanyima.

 

says Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, the head of public health affairs at the Ministry of Health

““Americans are trying to frame it as if we are against certain groups. I don’t know why they are attaching the Anti-homosexuality Act to the Ministry of Health. It has nothing to do with health,””

 

Sorry Dr Daniel Kyabayinze for calling you out, but that statement is really…, out there ignorant. That the Head of Public Health Affairs at the Ministry of Health of Uganda can actually state that legislation that criminalises Kuchus (LGBTQ+ individuals) has nothing to do with health and HIV/AIDS programming reveals considerable ignorance, and prejudice.
Blaming the Americans for our ignorance is not okay. HIV/AIDS has been about LGBTQ+ individuals and communities for the last 40 years of the pandemic. Why don’t you know it?

In Dr Kyabayinze’s defence, not many medics in Africa equate HIV/AIDS to homosexual sex. Heterosexual sex, yes. But Dr Kyabayinze is the Head of Public Health Affairs of the Ministry of Health. He is not ‘all doctors’.

If the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 doesn’t concern the Ministry of Health, why is it a long time policy of UNAIDS to strongly advocate for decriminalisation (removal of laws that criminalise homosexuals)?
This is a long standing policy of UNAIDS, the ‘Americans’ are not to blame...

As Head of Public Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr Kyabayinze should have been explaining to the Parliament of Uganda and the President, this long standing HIV prevention measure, and why it is important.

Another influential medic, and person living with HIV, also couldn’t help but reveal his ignorance. And his bias.

 

Dr Stephen Watiti, a person living with HIV/Aids (PLHIV), and chairman of the National Forum of People Living with HIV/Aids
““I know some of them who have HIV. [But] the majority of those people are not even HIV positive. Many LGBTQ members also get their medicines from abroad. The majority of those who are speaking here don’t even have HIV,””

 

The chairman of the National Forum of PLHIV should be aware of the actual issues. To him the problem was the politics, not the science. As a heterosexual person living with HIV, he doesnt understand. He has no understanding of the DOUBLE STIGMA of HIV and homosexuality.
Rev. Gideon Byamugisha also showed this lack of understanding even though he is also a PLWHIV. It is a reality of our kuchu lives.

And Dr Watiti, according to the statistics, I most kuchus living with HIV are actually Ugandans living in Uganda.

It was a crucial point in time.
At that time, the hype making the rounds was all about the big and bad and dirty, extremely evil Americans who were daring to caution that there was a problem with the very beautiful and lovely Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023.
In these cringe worth moments, when fellow Ugandans are puffing out their chests and loudly shouting how tough they are in standing up to ‘the Americans’, proof of their holy aims…,

And, our doctors, who should be in the know, failed us. Spectacularly.

 

gug