Uganda lockdown hampers rural LGBT access to life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs

Gay rights activists in Uganda are reporting difficulty in delivering life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive community members during the ongoing countrywide lockdown and curfew imposed in response to an upsurge of Covid-19 cases. Joseph Kawesi, the executive director of Come Out Post Test Club (COPTEC), which combats HIV and AIDS, said Wednesday in Kampala that his organisation faces a problem of reaching all key populations (KPs) most at risk from HIV/AIDS in remote areas where they operate because of a shortage of available means of transport like motorbikes and bicycles, which are allowed to move at the moment. “Some of the Key Populations who used to visit our offices are now so demanding. They are expecting much from us during this Covid-19 [lockdown] like food since they are no longer at their work,” he said.