The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria awarded Uganda a new grant of $70 million on Friday to battle the disease and expand life-prolonging therapy with anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Uganda, once seen as the epicentre of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, has been widely praised for bringing infection rates down to around 6 percent from 30 percent in the early 1990s. Mary Muduuli, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Finance who signed the agreement on behalf of Uganda's government, said the new funding would not just be used for buying ARVs. "Among others, the money will be used on activities to prevent the spread of the virus, provide seed money to people living with HIV/AIDS and to monitor drug resistance to ARVs," she told a news conference in the capital Kampala. The grant means the Geneva-based fund has now approved more than $270 million in funds for Uganda. The government says about 1.2 million Ugandans are infected with HIV, and doctors say about 100,000 have AIDS and would benefit from drug treatment.
