The Ugandan response to HIV/AIDS: some lessons for India

During the 1980s and 1990s, Uganda faced a severe crisis, with almost 30% of the adult population infected with HIV/AIDS. Uganda responded through a mix of rationalist and creative policy approaches which, after a decade of intervention, made Uganda the first African nation to report a decline in HIV prevalence--a trend that continues till today. Uganda thus demonstrated to the world that success is possible in the war against HIV/AIDS. I analyse here the Ugandan response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and highlight some lessons to be learnt for countries such as India, which face a rising HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is in the creative policy initiatives, often called the unwritten policy response, that major lessons are to be learnt from Uganda. Lessons may also be learnt by other nations from certain weaknesses in the Ugandan approach.