Go Together, Know Together: T minus 3 days

Press conference! Or media launch, whichever you prefer. At 10am this morning, representatives from all of the major (and not so major) papers and tv and radio stations came to the Ministry of Health for the "soft" launch of the campaign. Speakers included Cheryl Lettenmaier (Regional Representative for CCP), Dr. Raymond Byaruhanga (Executive Director, AIC), Dr. Zainab Akol (Program Manager, STD/AIDS Control Program, Ministry of Health...below left), Dr. Paul Kagwa (Health Promotion and Education Division, MoH), and Dr. Zaramba (Director General, MoH...speaking below). And, afterwards, Jude Ssenyonjo (Program Officer, Health Communication Partnership) for the Luganda interview.

Reproducing Dr. Zaramba's speech here (a Lowe Scanad/HCP team effort, which he delivered spot on, giving it his own pizzazz), as it gives a lot of the background and rationale for the campaign, which I haven't exactly blogged about yet:

The AIDS Information Centre representatives, Health Communication Partnership members, United States Agency for International Development representatives, all our corporate partners, members of the press present, good morning ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to the Ministry of Health.

Today, I discuss an issue so passionate to my heart because I have seen friends and family members suffer from HIV/AIDS.

Uganda has a long history of HIV counseling and testing, providing services since 1990. And yet, only about 20-25% of Ugandans have ever tested for HIV and received their results, and only about 10-12% have done so in the last 12 months, meaning that most of the country does not know their HIV status.

On top of this, we now know that most new HIV infections are occurring in married and cohabiting couples. Over 6% of married and cohabiting couples are estimated to be HIV positive, compared to less that 2% of those never married. However, many of our HIV prevention efforts so far have focused on the young and unmarrieds, or on individual HIV counseling and testing.

What's more, many people do not realize that it is possible for one partner to have HIV while the other does not. Known as "discordance", this is actually common in Uganda. One out of every 20 couples who are living together are HIV discordant. Most of these couples do not know this, and so they are doing nothing to protect the uninfected partner. Every time they have unprotected sex, they risk infecting the HIV negative partner. This is how most people are getting HIV.

Testing together as a couple - and learning not only your result but your partner's result - can go a long way in helping to remedy these situations. When you test together with your partner, you get your HIV test results together, so there is no doubt about each other's HIV status. A counsellor is there to support you both to discuss concerns and help you plan appropriately for your future. Your children's futures also depend on both of you knowing whether or not you have HIV. If you already have children, you owe it to your family to remain healthy so you can take care of them, and to test them to see if they have HIV. If you are considering having a baby, testing as a couple will help you to take precautions to protect your baby from HIV.

It is with this mindset that we are launching the "Go Together, Know Together" Couple HIV Counseling and Testing campaign, with an aim to increase the level of HIV/AIDS risk perception among couples, encourage couples to discuss HIV together, go for HIV counseling and testing together, adopt and maintain positive health practices, encourage HIV status disclosure among sexual partners, and link HIV positive couple members to treatment, care and support.

In order to increase public awareness and flag off the national campaign, the Ministry of Health and all partners involved will formally launch the campaign at an event themed "March to the Same Beat", scheduled to be held on Saturday, September 26th, 2009 at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds Kampala, where gates will open at 8:30am.

Over 1,000 couples are expected to take part in this event, which will take the form of a fun-packed day. It will incorporate various activities to include: free couples HIV counseling and testing services, peer education, interactive game contests, couples karaoke, and artistes performances by drama groups, Bobi Wine, Bebe Cool, Cindy, and Hilderman, among others. Couples that test and learn their HIV status together will be rewarded with prizes ranging from gift hampers, tickets for 2 to watch a movie at Cineplex cinema, dinner for 2 at the 7 Hills Revolving Restaurant, spa treatments for 2 at Serena Hotel, massages at Golden Lily, Shoprite shopping gift vouchers, meals for 2 at Lotus Mexicana, New York Kitchen and Crocodile, and his and hers phones from Simba Telecom.

This "Go Together, Know Together" Couple HIV Counseling and Testing campaign will run for 6 months initially in 8 districts in which AIDS Information Centers are located. These districts include: Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara, Soroti, Arua, Kabale and Lira. There are plans, however, to extend the campaign after the 6 months are over.

I urge all couples to attend this free event and find out their HIV status, so that they can plan for how to stay uninfected if both test HIV negative, learn how to prevent infecting the negative partner and support the positive partner if they are discordant, and seek treatment, care and support if they both test HIV positive.

My favorite part, however, came at the end, when the DG, sans script, officially launched both the campaign and the national couples HIV counseling and testing strategy (printed just in the nick of time), and called upon the media to disseminate the information: "I know you are always looking for hot news. I want to tell you, this is very hot news. I want to see it in the papers tomorrow, and I want to hear it on the radio in 30 minutes."

When I got back to the office an hour later, co-workers had already heard clips of his speech on the radio.