The problem was there, but the support was small. We wanted to do something bigger. - Jennifer Akello, c0-founder of local ngo FOCREV
This selection of images are from an HIV/AIDS clinic in the district of Busia in Eastern Uganda I photographed for Firelight Foundation in 2012. The clinic serves over 1,200 patients that come as far away as Tanzania to receive treatment and counseling, often in states of extreme vulnerability.
A family waits to receive HIV/AIDS counseling and treatment. Often one hears stories of men transmitting HIV/AIDS to their wives or girlfriends, as polgyny and multiple sexual partners are not uncommon in Uganda.
USAID and other foreign humanitarian aid organizations have been vital to ensuring funding and medicine in places like Eastern Uganda.
While their support is essential and desperately needed, it is limited by underpaid, understaffed health care workers and an inconsistent supply of medicine.
From government corruption to an aid program that only lasts three years, this instability takes it toll over the long-term by perpetuating the reliance of communities on foreign aid, rather than implementing programs that achieve self-sustainability.
A woman receives ART treatment at the Lumino Health Center III in the Busia district of Uganda.
Many campaigns promoting the prevention of HIV/AIDS cater to young people and leave out the growing number of older Ugandans living with the disease. As this older Ugandan man put it after attending a seminar with his wife on living with HIV/AIDS, "We thought before we were two, but we now know we are thousands."
Clients waiting for ART treatment at the Lumino Health Center III in the Busia district of Uganda.
Clients waiting for ART treatment at the Lumino Health Center III in the Busia district of Uganda.
Clients waiting for ART treatment at the Lumino Health Center III in the Busia district of Uganda.
