U-YOGA UGANDA a community based and non-profit organization that was established in 2014 to address the increasing situations of unemployment, poverty, violence acts, environment degradation, climate change and HIV/AIDS spread among the youth, adolescents, children, young men and women Kyegegwa District, Ruwenzori-Tooro region and the whole country.
MISSION: To empower and transform lives of the youth, children, adolescents, orphans, disabled and women for prosperity.
VISION: A self-sustainable organization supporting children, adolescents, youth and families’ prosperity in communities and the whole country.
Motto: A better Life is a Holistic Life
GILEAD SCIENCES, INC. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California - USA that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and influenza.
FOREWORD

U-YOGA UGANDA is grateful to her partner GILEAD for the support towards the project, more so; the district local government for their selfless collaboration towards the implementation especially the district health system from headquarters to the Village Health Teams for their selfless
PROJECT OVERVIEW
HIV/AIDs awareness, prevention and screening project is basically operating in two Districts of Kyegegwa and Fort Portal City. Being that Fort Portal city has the highest prevalence in the Country and Kyegegwa is the Organization's home district but also with a high spread rate of HIV/AIDs virus lately.
The campaign is a background of ending HIV/AIDs by 2030 that is one Presidential Fast Track Initiative (PFTI). U-YOGA UGANDA is putting a hand on the initiative with support from Gilead through a vigorous Public awareness program, targeting the general population with priority given to Adult Youths and Adolescents.
The project has the following objectives:
1. To promote disease screening in the community in target Districts that is Kyegegwa and Fort Portal city.
2. To increase field that can be used by decision makers in coming up with relevant policies and guidelines that address the actual challenges in the community, towards combating the rapid spread of the virus.
3. To improve on the Health-line of the people living with HIV with special attention on the Youths and women.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND SCOPE

The project has implemented various activities towards achieving the intended objectives in the project operation areas as follows;
o A District inception meeting was successfully held in Kyegegwa District to introduce the HIV/AIDs Awareness, Prevention and Screening Project to the local government leadership. The meeting was held on 27th August 2024 at Kyegegwa District Local Government headquarters. A total of 16 participants including the Chief Administrative Officer who also chaired the meeting, Resident District Commissioner, District Internal Security Officer, EO – SNE (Education Officer - Special Needs Educator), SOS, the District Health Educator, AGADHO, SCDO, District Commercial Officer, District Production Officer together with U-YOGA UGANDA staff.
The Executive Director U-YOGA UGANDA gave an introduction of U-YOGA UGANDA and Gilead while the Head of Health and WASH department gave an introduction to the project.
The meeting featured interactive sessions, questions and answers and the project was officially opened to start interventions in Kyegegwa District.

o 2 Dialogue meetings held in Kyegegwa and Kakabara Town councils on the HIV/AIDs Awareness, Prevention and Screening Project the meetings were held on 20th September 2024 at Kyegegwa Hospital with 57 participants and on 24th September, 2024 attended by 54 participants, including the Health Inspectors, representatives from the political wing, VHTs (Village Health Team), Para Social Workers, Counselors, Coordinators, Mobilizers, the Tooro Kingdom representative ( the King of Tooro being the champion of the End HIV/AIDS campaign by 2030 ),In-Charges of the relevant health facilities, CDOs, Town Clerk, SCDO, The Mayor, MRA-ART CLINIC, Chairperson KAPHA (association of People living with HIV in Kyegegwa), KAPHA Programs Officer, KAPHA Prevention Officer, Head Teachers, AG MS. Kyegegwa Hospital, the imam Kyegegwa main mosque and other religious leaders. The Dialogue meeting featured interactive sessions which was chaired by the Health Inspector Mr. Mugweri Thomas and the ED U-YOGA UGANDA gave an introduction on U-YOGA UGANDA and Gilead and the Head of Health and WASH department gave an introduction to the project.

o HIV/AIDs sensitizations while creating awareness about the Virus conducted on different TV and Radio stations in form of presentations as Live Talk Shows. Hosting relevant Government stake holders (The PLHW Coordinator and MCA) on Britop and Community Radio stations.

o 2 Awareness drives, with audio mobile sound plays, sending out messages on HIV/AIDS screening, prevention and positive living in Kyegegwa Town council and Kakabara Trading Centre and the surrounding areas was successfully. The Kyegegwa Town council awareness drive was done on 3rd October 2024, and the Kakabara Town council awareness drive was done on 5th October 2024.

o Support to 2 Health facilities towards boosting their capacity to effectively and efficiently do more towards disease Screening through facilitating additional medical and counseling staff on immunization days and during community out reaches. Kyegegwa HC 4 and Kakabara HC 3 have been supported in this.

o Display of Posters or Visual Health promotion with different HIV/AIDS messages in different parts of the community especially around crowded places like markets, worship places, hospitals and schools in Kyegegwa Town Council and Kakabara sub county.

o Training workshops and Advocacy meetings with relevant Government stake officials like the District Health Officer, In-charges from relevant Health facilities, Partners like KAPHA, Village Health Teams, Para social workers to address and identify gaps at different levels.

EXPECTED PROJECT OUTCOMES;

In the long run this project will realize the outcomes below;
• Improved decision making by relevant authorities to give extra attention to actual challenges in abide to continue the prevention and control of HIV/AIDs.
• Combating the rapid spreading of HIV/AIDs in the project operation area.
• Early detection and treatment of HIV/AIDs especially among the adult youths and the adolescents as this is the most affected age category.
In the same breath, the project has realized immediate out puts including;
• Advocacy meetings with relevant government officials and stake holders that have produced action points towards addressing the most pressing challenges. Monitoring strategies have also been put in place to ensure action. For instance, VHTs in Kyegegwa Town council serving under Kyegegwa Health Center 4 were taken through a capacity building training to enable them serve better ensuring confidentiality and improve in patient handling to address the issue of patients disappearing and discontinuing with their drugs.
• Increased numbers of people registered for HIV/AIDS screening, because of extended screening services. During immunization days and at community outreaches.
• Community sensitization on HIV/AIDs, spread, prevention, and the available services at Health facilities as well as demystifying false beliefs about HIV/AIDS. This has been realized through all the project interventions. where more than 250000 people from Kyegegwa District have been reached out

COMMUNITY DIALOGUES
With collaboration with the district health systems, we conducted a number of community dialogue to engage key stakeholders on HIV/AIDs Awareness, Prevention and Screening, that were held in Kakabara and Kyegegwa among others, where more than 100 VHTs participated and these included the Health Inspector, Health Educator, PLHW Coordinator, OA, CSO, CDOs, Town Clerk, ART in Charge, LCIII Chairperson, LCI, D/C, Head Teachers, and other religious leaders.
Through these meetings a lot of knowledge and status was exchanged, shared and discussed by different participants and promised to continue sharing the lessons to their communities.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
❖Awareness has been created among the target population by U-YOGA UGANDA through the VHTs, PSWs, religious leaders, Government officials and other leaders.
❖Support and dialogues to Youth support programs to direct their effort more towards Agriculture to enable more jobless and desperate Ugandans engage in agriculture for their livelihood for economic stability to reduce their engagement in sexual acts for money which increases the risks of HIV/AIDS spread in the target communities, this is also meant to help those living with HIV live a better life.
❖U-YOGA UGANDA has provided individual and family counseling services to address the psychosocial and mental health needs. With the help of hired counselors to reach out to the most frustrated.
❖U-YOGA UGANDA has conducted community sensitization outreaches to demystify misconceptions and reduce stigma associated with HIV/AIDs which was a big problem in the community to people living with HIV/AIDS.
❖We have also advocated for policies that protect the rights and improve the welfare of individuals living with HIV/AIDs.
❖U-YOGA UGANDA has worked closely with existing community structures, engaged local leaders, Schools, VHTs, PSWs, media outlets, Religious leaders, and other Government officials to promote accurate information and dispel myths surrounding HIV/AIDs.
❖U-YOGA UGANDA has developed relationships with local organizations and partners to offer vocational training and economic empowerment opportunities for affected individuals.

BEST PRACTICES:
• Working with the existing structures through local leaders helps to mobilize for project activities and effectively implement project activities. The leaders can easily penetrate through the community and they are influential because community believe in them for instance religious leaders, political leaders while head teachers have a big impact in schools.
• Working closely with relevant government officials through regular reporting and sharing work plans creates a good working relationship promoting transparency with the stakeholders.
• Involvement of VHTs and PSWs created better grounds to obtain information about target communities and how best to achieve success in implementation of activities. Because they are more informed on their community’s dynamics and where there is desperate need for intervention.