Uganda Aids Commission (UAC) has introduced translated versions of the national stigma and discrimination guidelines to enhance accessibility for individuals with visual and hearing impairments.
This initiative includes Braille materials for the visually impaired and sign language resources for those with hearing impairments.
The primary objective of this effort is to ensure that people with hearing and visual impairments have access to essential information related to HIV/AIDS, as explained by Dr. Vincent Bagambe, the Director of Planning and Strategic Information at UAC. It is recognized that individuals with disabilities are particularly susceptible to HIV infections.
In 2021, the Uganda Aids Commission initiated the National Policy Guidelines on Ending Stigma and Discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS. This policy framework emphasizes the importance of safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of individuals living with HIV.
Justification
“We realised that although we are making good progress in the fight against HIV/Aids, the progress is not uniform, there are some people being left behind and unfortunately, people with disabilities are among the groups that are vulnerable to acquiring new HIV infections and even those living with HIV are behind in accessing care and treatment,” Dr Bagambe said.
He added: “Persons with disabilities who are living with HIV are stigmatised by community members, health workers . Some of these people even fear accessing treatment and care. So to fight all this stigma and improve access to care, we have come up with these guidelines in braille and sign language form.”
Dr Bagambe said UAC has in the past lacked funds to translate the materials.
“Translating is a costly exercise, you need special material. You must use experts to translate the content into the braille, engage the community so that when the guidelines are translated, they are actually communicating the correct message,” Dr Bagambe said.
Mr Charles Byekwaso, the acting executive director of Uganda National Association of the Blind, decried difficulties in accessing information, including on health matters..
“All the work that agencies and government do, they put it in print very well knowing that for us we don’t see so you cannot read print unless someone endeavours to read it to you, which is tiresome. So we have no independence in accessing information,” Mr Byekwaso said.
He added : “So we are very happy that Uganda Aids Commission has come up to support the production of the stigma and discrimination document into braille and we believe it will also be produced into other formats like the human narration, large print for those who partly see, audio, machine reading for you.”