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The Katikkiro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga, has advised the youth to avoid engaging in premarital sexual relationships to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“HIV/AIDS is the easiest disease to avoid. Unlike Malaria where a mosquito bites you while you’re asleep, this one you contract it when you’re awake with your eyes wide open,” he said to a multitude of youth from various schools.

He made these remarks on Monday, March 18, during a health camp organised by the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church in Najjanankumbi to mark its 75th anniversary celebrations.

He appealed to them to donate blood and also protect themselves from the HIV scourge to ensure that they can build the SDA church and Buganda Kingdom with healthy bodies.

Mayiga also scoffed at lifestyle trends that promote snack foods arguing that this too is detrimental to their health if consumed regularly.

Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga interacting with some of the medics during a health camp organised by the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church in Najjanankumbi to mark its 75th anniversary celebrations. (Photo by Dickson Kulumba)

Recent data shows that the prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15 to 64 in Uganda is 6.2%: 7.6% among females and 4.7% among males.

This corresponds to approximately 1.2 million people aged 15 to 64 living with HIV in Uganda. HIV prevalence is higher among women living in urban areas (9.8%) than those in rural areas (6.7%).

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the most advanced stage of the disease. HIV targets the body's white blood cells, weakening the immune system. This makes it easier to get sick with diseases like tuberculosis, infections and some cancers.

Women and girls

According to a United Nations agency UNAIDS, globally 46% of all new HIV infections were among women and girls in 2022.

In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women accounted for more than 77% of new infections among young people aged 15-24 years in 2022.

In the same year, adolescent girls and young women (aged 15-24 years) in sub-Saharan Africa were more than three times as likely to acquire HIV as their male peers in 2022. 

Every week, 4000 adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years became infected with HIV globally in 2022. 3100 of these infections occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.

Only about 42% of districts with high HIV incidence in sub-Saharan Africa had dedicated HIV prevention programmes for adolescent girls and young women in 2021.

SDA community gifts Katikkiro

The katikkiro was given an assortment of gifts, including Christian literature such as books, chicken, and several bunches of green bananas (matooke).

On his part, Katikiro commended the SDA church and referred to them as an exemplary group of people.

“You don’t do things just for the sake of doing, you do things wholeheartedly,” he extolled.

Mayiga also appealed to those in attendance to engage in physical exercise to remain fit, he also advised them to always go for medical checkups regularly and to invest in insurance to curtail unforeseen calamities.

The event was attended by various SDA schools and a delegation from Mengo including the Kingdom’s cabinet ministers like Ronald Bakulumpagi Kaggo in charge of health who lauded the SDA community for having transformed Buganda through their infrastructural projects such as hospitals, schools and churches.

There was a blood donation campaign led by the Red Cross and several other stalls that exhibited various health products and services.