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Aliya Gill

Mr.Phillips

AP Language

14 December 2018

HIV/AIDS is Hurting Ugandan Children

When a child finds out that they have HIV/AIDS or that a family member has it, their

heart completely drops. They know that HIV/AIDS will forever impact various aspects of their

life including their education. HIV is an virus that hurts the immune system and gives victims

unbearable symptoms such as weight loss, fevers, and diarrhea, and if the immune system

becomes worse AIDS is developed. Uganda is one of the various African countries impacted by

the HIV virus. Even though there has been many treatments to help AID-affected households, it

is not enough to help this children stand up against HIV/AIDS. The Ugandan government needs

to enforce policies that prevents the stigma that comes from HIV/AIDS, fund more HIV

treatment for all AID-affected families, and provide free education because HIV/AIDS is

preventing Ugandan children access to education and acquiring knowledge.

There is no doubt that HIV/AIDS are impacting children's ability to learn in school.

Children who are diagnosed with HIV are facing stigma and discrimination in school. Desire

Mbabaali interviewed a former student named Harerimana that was affected by HIV and how it

changed his life in school. When Harerimana found out he was diagnosed with HIV, he decided

to tell the school secretary about it. His confidential information soon spread throughout the

school and the "finger pointing" began (Mbabaali). He felt so ashamed of his condition that he

had to switch schools. HIV/AIDs should not cause a child to be so ashamed of themselves that it
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causes them to switch schools. The stigma that children face is an obstacle that hurts the children

from continually gaining knowledge.

Not only does the stigma and discrimination make a child affect makes them ashamed of

themselves, it drops their confidence and self-esteem. According to Nakibuuka, a fellow

Ugandan, children who are discriminated against for having HIV causes " low self-esteem, poor

performance in schools, stunted growth, and insecurity in general."(Nakibuuka). The unfair

treatment from teachers and classmates are preventing them from excelling in class. Children's

confidence when they are discriminated against and the stigma brings "down their moral to live a

complete life."(Musoba). Nelson Musoba from the ​Daily Monitor​ states that stigma is also

making the children so insecure that they can't even take their treatment drugs at school.

HIV/AIDS cannot have this much control over a child's perception of themselves, it doesn't help

them grow as a person, it is preventing them from being comfortable with themselves in a

environment where they are supposed to learn and grow.

Janet Mukwaya, the minister of Gender, Labour, and Social Affairs in Uganda, is not

helping HIV-affected children feel like they belong at school, she is making them stand out.

According the Pascal Kweisga, Mukwaya communicated to the public that the Ugandan

government plans to impose mandatory HIV testing. Civil Society Organization claim Mukwaya

suggested mandatory testing would " make it easy to Identify HIV positive children and send

them away from schools in a bid to have an HIV free generation" (Kweisga). Having mandatory

testing is great for children, but the exposing the child's status just hurts the child confidence and

they are perceived as bad. If Mukwaya wants to send HIV positive children away from school,
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how are they supposed to gain an education too? HIV-infected children are no different from

non-infected children, and they should be able to learn like the other students.

Mukwaya feels as that having children expose their status is the best option for the

country of Uganda. Betty Amamukirori attended the Social Development Sector Review and

Mukwaya stated, " This is a serious challenge to the social development sector. We must look up

at our parenting guidelines and see how we can help parents open up to their children and also

help children not be mad at the parent after revealing the disease" (Amamukirori). Mukwaya is

not considering the child's feelings when exposing their status. Citizen's HIV status should be

confidential because it can affect the way people look at each other and cause bias and

discrimination . Even Avert, an HIV/AIDS charity, thinks that children are subjected to stigma

and discrimination and policies should be passed so their "status is kept confidential" (Avert 85).

Stigma and Discrimination from having HIV/AIDS can become even worst and lead to school

dropouts.

HIV/AIDS is causing children to dropout of school for their specific reasons. According

to Ecologia, "UNESCO estimates that almost seventy percent of children in Uganda in primary

school will dropout before finishing" (Ecologia). HIV/AIDS is the main factor for these

dropouts. Ivan Kimbowa, a newspaper writer, found out that some island children blame teachers

and parent for school dropouts. Children from the Kalangala District in Uganda feel that parents

and teacher are responsible for the increased school dropouts and spread of HIV/AIDS because

they do not attend to their basic needs. Teachers and parents are not teaching their children about

how dangerous HIV/AIDS can be, and some parents cannot take care for their children because

of AIDS. School dropouts due to the effect of AIDS are damaging children's education.
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Not only are HIV-infected children educations are negatively affected, so are children in

HIV/AIDS-affected households. The parents in HIV-affected households cannot take care of

themselves anymore, which causes the children of the family to take care of the parents. The

International Labor office state that there are extra hours of household chores performed by

children in AIDS affected households. Within the "snapshot year,” children in AIDS-affected

households have an estimated two to four hours of additional weekly chores (International Labor

Office 27). Not only are the AIDS-affected households adding more chores to young children,

they are preventing the children from going to school. Since there is no income coming from the

parents, no one is able to give the children school supplies and they cannot pay for the school

fees. The government needs more money to help children pay for school.

The government needs free education and school supplies for all children in Uganda. No

matter what circumstance, children should be able to have access to an education because it can

lead them to a great future. According to Avert,"In Malawi a cash transfer programme that had a

specific conditions to keep girls at school reduced the school reduced the school dropout rate by

thirty-five percent" (Avert 93). Uganda needs more money and support from other countries to

provide access to education. Avert also states that there are only "68% of children on

antiretroviral treatment". All children need to be on treatment not just sixty-eight percent.

Policies about stigma that comes from HIV/AIDs need to be enforced, so that these people who

discriminate against other people can have consequences. No one deserves to be treated badly for

something that they cannot control. The government needs to understand that HIV/AIDS is

preventing the new generation from growing and becoming more advanced. The spread of

HIV/AIDs needs to stop because it is hurting the innocent children in Uganda.

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Works Cited

Amamukirori, betty. “HIV+ Children Face Stigma in School - Mukwaya.”

Www.newvision.co.ug,​ Sept. 2018,

www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1485225/hiv-children-stigma-school-mukway

Avert. “Children, HIV and AIDS.” ​AVERT​, Avert, 21 Aug. 2018,

www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-social-issues/key-affected-populations/children.

Ecologia. “Uganda - Supporting Children Affected By HIV/AIDS.” ​Ecologia​, 2018,

www.ecologia.org.uk/projects/uganda-sky-is-the-limit/.

“HIV and AIDS in Uganda.” ​AVERT​, Avert, 10 Dec. 2018,

www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/sub-saharan-africa/uganda

Kimbowa, Ivan. “Island Children Blame increased School Dropout on Teachers, Parents.”

www.monitor.co.ug​, Oct. 2018.

https://www.monitor.co.ug/news/national/island-school-dropout-

Kweisga, Pascal. “Mukwaya Clarifies Position on HIV Testing for Students.”

Www.newvision.co.ug,​ Sept. 2018,

www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1485227/mukwaya-clarifies-position-hiv-testing

-students.

Mbabaali, Desire. “Uganda: 'I Would Sneak Out of School to Get Arvs'.” ​AllAfrica.com​, 4 Dec.

2018, allafrica.com/stories/201812040081.html.

Musoba, Nelson. “Let Us Work to end stigma in Schools.”, 4 Dec. 2018, www.monitor.co.ug

Nakibuuka, Annet. “Protect the African Child from HIV, Support Those Living with It.”

Www.newvision.co.ug,​ June 2018,

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www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1479821/protect-african-child-hiv-support-livin

g.

OFFICE, INTERNATIONAL LABOUR. ​IMPACT OF HIV AND AIDS ON THE WORLD OF

WORK: Global Estimates​. INTL LABOUR OFFICE, 2018.