Hadijah's Story

Hadijah Hajati Nabukenya thought her life was over when she tested positive for HIV.  Living in Mukono, 21 kilometers from Uganda’s capital, Hadijah learned of her infection after her husband, a wealthy businessman, died in 1988.  As a widow with HIV, she lost everything.  

Hadija Hajati Nabukenya

Following local tradition, her husband’s family took all the property, leaving Hadijah and her two daughters with no income and no place to live. She returned to her village, with nothing.

Despite poverty and abandonment, learning to live with HIV has made Hadijah an example of hope. Like many of the 1 million Ugandans with  HIV, Hadijah has found a way to live a full life, in defiance of an infection  that has killed an estimated 91,000 people in her country. In Uganda, advances have been made in expanding services and reducing stigma, thanks in large part to the Multi-Sectoral AIDS Program (MAP), funded with a $47.5 million grant from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA). The MAP has financed a wide range of materials and technical support services.  It has been unique in that it supports community groups to implement local solutions. 

Hadijah learned about how to live with HIV when she met Ruth Kaweesa, a counselor and director of the Mukono AIDS Support Association (MASA), one of the organizations supported by the MAP.  Ruth counseled Hadijah to better understand her HIV infection, the importance of good nutrition and other ways to live with the virus.

Hadijah has started her own community group, Agali Awamu, which means “joining  together to overcome.”  The group serves AIDS widows, widowers and orphans.

Seeking funding from the MAP, Hadijah and her group wrote a proposal based on the needs of the members of Agali Awamu.  Ruth calls it “a traditional proposal, what they had on their fingertips.”   They received money for school supplies and mattresses for children whose parents had died from AIDS, and funds for widows to obtain bean seedlings and gardening tools, and bednets to protect them from malaria.

Return to the main story: 
Uganda - We Are the People of Aids

Ruth's Story

A Chain of Support Amid Enormous Needs

The Bank-funded Multi-Sectoral AIDS Program has created a chain of support extending down to the villages. Community groups across Uganda have been trained to plan, implement, monitor and report, buy goods and to manage funds. Over time, procedures for community participation have been clear, simple, and well publicized.

Group accountability has gone a long way to prevent corruption and led to good use of the funds. Everyone knew how much was received and how much was spent, which helped ensure that most projects were implemented as planned.

Communities have identified priorities and been empowered to meet their needs. Results include increased: voluntary counseling and testing, access to treatment through referrals for drugs to treat opportunistic infections and antiretrovirals, support for AIDS orphans and widows, provision of home-based care services, income-generating activities that benefit members of community organizations.