Growing and living below the hills of Ogili, Kumele Wicere Village, 31-year-old, Vincent Okwera Lapi beams with joy and excitement as he welcomes us to his home. It’s this joy and excitement that defines Vincent’s passion of saving lives more especially within his community - a call that has become a realty through working as a VHT at Omiya Anyima Health Center III.
Poverty remains a key driver of HIV in Uganda. This coupled with other structural divers like gender-based violence and social cultural norms significantly predispose women to HIV. The situation is visibly worse among adolescent girls and young women aged 10 to 24 who are about 3 times more at risk than their counterparts’ males of the same age.
Rebecca Nalukwago 21 years lost her father at a tender age of seven years, the sole family breadwinner and was left to live with her mother. This fate led to her childhood being characterized by ill health and interrupted education.