Health Advocates in Kalangala district say the number of children living with HIV/AIDS in the district are increasingly failing to have their HIV viral load suppressed.
The Head of Masaka Diocesan Medical Services Fr. Emmanuel Katabazi says currently, they are registering a number of children who are virally suppressed after taking the drugs and this has remained a challenge.
He says, poverty and lack of enough food, within the respective families providing care to the children in question is affecting the bodies of the children to respond to the drugs.
He says, 59% of the children’s viral load is not suppressed due to food insecurity, and 9% due to poor nutrition among others.
If taken as prescribed, HIV medicine reduces the amount of HIV in the body (viral load) to a very low level, which keeps the immune system working and prevents illness.
This is called viral suppression, defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood.
Fr. Emmanuel Katabazi made the remarks while receiving a vehicle from TPO-Uganda to facilitate the diocese address issues affecting children living with AIDS in Kalangala district and its surrounding areas, under the project code-named Keeping children healthy and Safe (KCHS).
The project which is worth $20 million, is funded by USAID, through TPO-Uganda and it is covering 25 districts across the country for the next five years.
