Q.1 Tell us about SAS foundation.

SAS foundation is a Ugandan based NGO with a sister organization in the US both of which have three sole aims

a) HIV eradication.
b) Provision of affordable, available, accessible yet quality health care
c) Education and research.

Q.2 For how long has SAS foundation been in involved in the fight against HIV?

We have concertedly combated this pandemic since 1999 when the US branch was opened. In 2005 The Immunization By Education Strategy ( IBES ) was launched in Uganda with the licensure of the Ugandan affiliate.

Q.3 What strategy have you adopted in the fight against HIV?

IBES intricately enacted by SAS foundation,is the ultimate model that should be adopted to eradicate HIV not ABC as currently propagated.

Q.4 Why do you think that IBES would eradicate HIV?

Unlike ABC, IBES appreciates the cluster phenomenon of the HIV pandemic. HIV is a disease of clusters at both international and local levels. Clusters of the disease are concentrated in areas afflicted by poverty, lack of education about the disease, political instability, areas devoid of law enforcement and situations where dedication to cultural and religous norms are under assault. It is these clusters that represent the current 6-7 % prevalence of the disease in Uganda. ABC is ineffective against these clusters as it does not seek to address these socioeconomic driving forces of the pandemic. To the contrary ABC was efficacious in bringing the prevalence down from ~ 20% to the current stagnation of 6-7% as it dealt with the inter-cluster component of the disease ( the intense sporadic element) which was majorly being driven by individual not social factors.

This can be compared to an HIV rain storm that hit the country in the late eighties. When ABC was applied it stopped the rain but the rain clouds remained. We are now waiting any time for the rain to fall again. IBES seeks to eradicate these clusters. Simply put it will remove the rain clouds hence negate the fear of future rain. The SAS foundation HIV eradication model, IBES, highlights the consequential impact of children and HIV positive people in the disappearance of these clusters, hence its effectiveness.

Q.5 Why children?

HIV is a behavioral disease. Behavior is learned during childhood hence the need to establish the appropriate decision making mechanisms between the ages 0-14. Children are an open book into which frequent,relevant ,appropriate yet proportional information can be inscribed resulting into protective behavior. Children intensely endowed with the right tools will not be recruited into HIV clusters.Hence these clusters will shrink and eventually disappear. Adults are already set in there behaviors. They are either cluster prone or cluster averse. Any behavior change strategy directed to adults will not be as effective. It is sad to note that the majority of strategies currently in place are being directed to people 15 years and older, hence the doom and gloom picture being painted. This should not and must not be case.The country needs to turn its radar around . Children 0-14 must be the basis of our HIV strategy via the vehicle of mentorship.

Q.6 How does the mentorship programme work?

Selected HIV positive people who have overcome personal and societal stigma undergo a comprehensive course to enable them impart amongst others life skills to children,5-14 years old in primary schools. This is directed majorly towards HIV prevention. Mentors are deployed to schools where they interact ,teach and mentor children on a weekly basis and oversee activities of the SAS winners societies.These societies run by children re enforce what they have formally studied and are also a source of child based solutions to the epidemic. I consider mentorship as the most intense form of education which utilizes all avenues of social dynamics to establish positive behavior in children.

Q.7 Have you been able to track the impact of this programme among children?

Yes we have, though informally through children focus groups. We monitor and evaluate what we do by ensuring that mentors uniformly teach the same material to all children through the establishment of a mentorship curriculum.The mentors are supervised by mentor supervisors who also have there own curricula to ensure uniformity of the process. Starting next year we hope to establish both qualitative and quantitative studies which will more accurately track the impact of this effort.