During a lecture on “Confronting the Challenge of Global HIV/AIDS and Women,” Millie Katana urged students to learn more about HIV/AIDS transmission and its prevention.
“Sexual transmitted infection is the most effective breeding ground for the HIV/AIDS infection,” she said, “and that is why I ask students and everybody else to get more information about HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention.”
Katana, a co-founder of the Pan Africa Treatment Access Movement, has worked with various organizations to uplift the profile of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. She urged students to raise the profile of HIV/AIDS by actively participating in spreading the message of advocacy and on what they can do to support the fight against this dreaded virus. “We need everybody to be involved so that we can eliminate this virus,” Katana said, “and that is why came here to raise the profile of HIV/AIDS and I urge you, too, to do the same as the virus is devastating many families globally.”
Katana, a Ugandan native, has lived with HIV for the last 15 years. She challenged everyone, that through participation Global AIDS funds can get the resources to support all the programs which are helping to sensitize people about the virus thus reducing the mortality rate.
Katana, accompanied by representatives from the Global AIDS Alliance, said that it was as a result of the epidemic that she was lobbying for the developed world and the United States in particular to continue supporting the Global Fund so that the current death rate can be reduced.
The Global Fund was created to fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) which are the world’s most devastating diseases, killing over 6 million people annually. According to Global AIDS Alliance a total of 37.8 million people are already infected with the virus and the new annual infection rate is 4.8 million. Sixty percent of all the global HIV/AIDS comes from Africa.
“Most third world countries are the worst hit and that is why we need the U.S. to come in and save the situation as many people are dying,” Katana said. “AIDS has really ruined all the gains and development we had achieved over the last 20 years as the life expectancy rate has been reduced dramatically from 60 to 50 years.”
She said that the Global Fund, which has played a crucial part in the supporting the fight against aids, was running out of funds as it was being overstretched by the high infection rate. “AIDS is not a disease that is about to go away,” she said, “and that is why everybody should get involved against the fight for this epidemic.”
Katana said that women are the most affected and prone to HIV because they are mothers and caretakers. She said many of HIV-positive people were facing a lot of stigmatization adding that stigma is more traumatizing that the virus it self. “Anyone can contract the AIDS virus as it doesn’t discriminate anybody,” she said.
Katana is advocating for equitable and affordable access to life sustaining AIDS treatment. She is also the lobbying advocacy officer for the Health Rights Action group in Uganda. She has served on the board of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. She has worked with different organizations in the area of HIV/AIDS, including national, government and international agencies.
The lecture, which was held at Stanton-Gerber Auditorium on the VA campus, was sponsored by Global AIDS Alliance.

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