"We abstained to get this far": Hiv-preventie in Uganda

In the early nineties, Uganda succeeded to accomplish a spectacular drop in the prevalence of HIV. The so-called ABC-strategy - Abstain, Be Faithful, Use a Condom - is held responsible for this occurrence. Museveni, president of Uganda, created an environment of openness and directly addressed issues like discrimination and gender inequity, thus contributing significantly to the success of the campaign, which focalized mainly on "zero grazing" (faithfulness to one partner). In recent years, this global comprehensive prevention program shifted to campaigns focusing on abstinence only. This implies many risks: only a part of the population is targeted by these campaigns (i.e. young unmarried individuals who are not sexually active), no place is made for information on other important and effective methods of HIV prevention, and marriage is wrongly presented to constitute a safeguard against HIV.