Stop engaging in sex, minister Bahati warns university students

By Our Reporter

The state minister for finance in charge of planning, David Bahati, has urged students to resist the temptation of engaging in unprotected sex to avoid catching the deadly HIV/Aids.

This month, President Yoweri Museveni launched Presidential Fast-Tracking Initiative on the Elimination of HIV/AIDS that targets total elimination of the scourge from the Uganda by 2030 where the young population is one of the targets.

 “We all know where Aids comes from so we should avoid taking that route. Follow President Yoweri Museveni’s advice of abstinence and faithfulness,” Bahati said in Kampala while meeting university students and graduates hailing from Ndorwa West Constituency.

The minister urged them to be agents of change among the people around them noting that the country was spending so much money on treatment of Aids, which money would be used on other development activities.

 “We are spending more than US$400 million on HIV/AIDS treatment annually, yet we don’t even have that money. In fact, this government only contributes just less than US$50 million while the bigger part comers from donors. What if these donors pull out?” He asked.

“Tell people that if they don’t change their ways, they will not live long to enjoy the many good plans this government has for them. Tell those men to go to hell with their money. You will make your own money if you live healthy lives for long,” he said.

He implored them to work hard and never to get pass degrees, “Why should you allow to fail? Your parents are struggling to get school fees, so make them happy by excelling,” said.

Bahati also advised the students to come up with business ideas so that they can start their earning income while still studying.

“We need to know the difference between development and improving household income. The former is for the government to take care of while the latter is for the individual.”

Meanwhile, only 9 per cent of men aged 40 to 49 years used a condom when they engaged in extramarital sex in 2018, according to Dr Daniel Byamukama, the head of the HIV prevention division at the Uganda AIDs Commission. 

Byamukama said condom use is continuously declining from 38 per cent in 2000 to 24 per cent in 2018. He added that while the general prevalence of men aged 40 to 49 is 14 per cent, prevalence among men in this age bracket who engage in extramarital affairs is highest at 25 percent. 

He says this should worry the country as it’s undoing previous awareness done by activists like Lutaaya and other interventions geared towards prevention of HIV which is highest among men of that age group who are believed to be giving young girls the virus.