Next year, Uganda will welcome a new HIV drug, a medical breakthrough that promises to give hope in the fight against the epidemic. The twice-yearly injectable drug will be given to people at high risk of infection such as young girls, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and other high-risk categories of people, who could include sex workers, long route drivers and fishing communities.
Uganda is among the 10 high-burden countries selected to benefit through the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR). This is a remarkable achievement, a milestone that reminds the country of the journey we have taken since the early 1980s when the disease was discovered and the battle launched in the early 1990s to fight the scourge. Uganda has been a global leader in combating HIV, and the arrival of this new drug gives new hope to achieving targets on infection, prevention and antiretroviral treatment.
But while we celebrate this progress, we must not lose sight of a sobering truth: medicine alone cannot end the HIV crisis. The greatest weapon against HIV/Aids has always been, and will always remain, human behaviour. A drug may suppress the virus in the body, but it cannot stop reckless sexual habits, nor can it shield society from the wider consequences of irresponsibility.
Careless sexual behaviour continues to fuel not only new HIV infections but also a rise in teenage pregnancies, unwanted pregnancies, and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. These challenges place immense social, economic, and emotional burdens on families, communities, and the country at large. The new drug may help prevent the virus, but it will not mend the heartbreak of a teenage mother forced out of school, nor will it heal the scars left by preventable infections.
As Uganda ushers in this new drug, we must redouble our investment in behavioural change campaigns.
Young people, in particular, need accurate information, and practical guidance to help them make responsible choices. Parents, educators, religious leaders, and policymakers must ensure that the excitement around medical progress does not overshadow the fundamental truth: prevention is always better than cure.
The new HIV drug is a gift, one that will save countless lives. But it is not a licence for recklessness.
If we do not pair science with responsibility, we risk undoing the very progress we are celebrating today. Uganda has shown the world that leadership and collective discipline can bend the trajectory of HIV. Let us now prove, once again, that real change begins in the choices we make every day.