60 Minutes examines PEPFAR in Uganda

Apr 5 2010

CBS News' 60 Minutes reports from Uganda about how PEPFAR has helped people living with HIV/AIDS throughout the country and the challenges Uganda still faces in fighting the spread of the virus. The show includes interviews with Peter Mugyenyi of the Joint Clinical Research Center in Kampala, Uganda, and other doctors on the ground, who discuss how HIV-positive children and adults are alive today as a result of PEPFAR and how the program has helped to improve the way Africans view the United States.

According to the show, "today generic drugs have made AIDS pills much cheaper: treating one patient for a year used to cost more than $7,000; now, it's less than $300."

"But even with American aid, the battle is far from over," 60 Minutes reports, noting how "several sexual customs in Uganda make AIDS hard to contain," such as polygamy and cross-generational sex. The show examines Uganda's abstinence, be faithful and use condoms approach to preventing infection, and the U.S. support of such efforts. In addition, 60 Minutes looks at Uganda's efforts to boost the number of people getting tested for HIV, which the U.S. is helping fund. 

The show also examines concerns among Ugandans that the U.S. will be forced to scale back its support of HIV/AIDS programs on the ground. A full video from the program is available here.

CBSNews.com features several video segments from the program, including an interview with Cissy Ssuuna, a nurse and counselor at the Pediatric Infectious Disease Clinic at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, who discusses how the treatment of children living with HIV in Uganda has changed over the past five years. Links to the video segments appear here and here (4/4).