Reports Leo Odera Omolo

THE HIV prevalence rate at Kasenyi landing site in Entebbe is 28.2%, while that of other landing sites in Wakiso and Masaka is at 30%, Dr. Ponsiano Kaleebu, the director of the Medical Research Council, has said.

Kaleebu, who observed that the prevalence rate at landing site was higher than the national rate of 6.4%, urged communities living around lakes to embrace preventive methods to combat the spread of the virus.

Addressing residents of Kasenyi on Monday, Kaleebu said the use of condoms should be enhanced and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission should also be emphasised by sensitising pregnant women.

This was during celebrations to mark World AIDS Day.

“Why should there be more transmission of HIV to unborn babies when we know how to prevent it?” Kaaleebu asked.

He said for the two and years the Medical Research Council had been working various landing sites, they had discovered that fishermen feared drowning at the lake more than acquiring HIV.

“I came across many who reasoned that once the boat capsizes you die instantly, while with HIV you may live for years. So according to them, it is not a worrying situation,” he revealed.

Kaleebu noted that the way the fishermen live exposes them to a higher risk of acquiring the disease.

He explained that the fishermen spend months away on different islands and engage in sex with different women.

“A fisherman once told me they have to compete with army men for sex workers who frequent the landing site,” Kaleebu said.

The chairman of Kasenyi landing site, Haji Abdul Mbabali, said the sex trade was common in the area.

As part of the celebrations, researchers, who included donors from Ireland, visited the fishing village of Lwanjaba, where they launched a latrine project and planted trees.

Fishermen also got free HIV testing and counselling.

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