Uganda yesterday marked World AIDS Day with messages urging men to go for voluntary HIV counseling and testing services. This was at Nakivubo stadium in the central business area of Kampala City.

The day started off with an early morning heavy down pour but this didn’t stop the enthusiastic people who wanted to participate in the procession and mobilize people to go for free HIV counseling and testing at the venue.

While addressing the crowd at Nakivubo the Health minister Dr. Stephen Mallinga noted that voluntary testing and counselling is an effective strategy to access preventive and care services.

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

In Uganda, about one million people live with HIV&AIDS, according to the AIDS Information Centre, while 1.2 million children have been orphaned by the scourge. Last year, 43% of new infections were among married couples.

Quoting Ministry of Health reports, Mallinga said 25% of women in Ugandan have tested for HIV while the men lag behind, with only 21% knowing their status.

Hundreds of people flooded the stadium and braved the sun to access free testing services from various health providers. At the AIDS information centre stall 250 people were counseled and tested for HIV. By 7 PM local time a long queue was still seen at the AIC stall which forced the counselors to refer some of them to the nearest testing centres.

On this day AIC further extended free HIV Counseling and testing to prisoners and corporate organizations. A total of 145 Stanbic Bank employees were counseled, tested and received their HIV results. While in Luzira prison 60 inmates voluntarily tested for HIV.

Present at the Nakivubo function was the UNAIDS Africa coordinator Dr. Musa Bungudu, PEPFAR country coordinator Dr. Michael Strong, as well as Dr. Elizabeth Mataka, the UN special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa.

World AIDS Day was adopted in 1988. It is commemorated every December 1 to raise awareness about the pandemic that has killed more than 25 million people world-wide since it was first discovered 30 years ago.

The day was crowned with various people giving testimonies and performances from different Ugandan artists.