In what Reuters calls the "first concrete move" by the United States since the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the CDC has
cut some financial aid to Uganda.
The U.S. had signaled it was reviewing its ties with the East African country after President Yoweri Museveni signed in legislation on February 24 that punishes gay sex with jail terms up to life. "As a result of this review process, a portion of the U.S. Centre for Disease Control's (CDC) cooperative agreement with the Ministry of Health has been put on hold pending this review," a senior U.S. government official told Reuters on Thursday. The U.S. official did not say how much aid was withheld but added the CDC had spent $3.9 million on a ministry of health program last year. Uganda's health ministry said it had been told it would no longer be able to access money from a fund used to buy antiretroviral drugs and HIV testing kits. Ministry spokeswoman Rukia Nakamatte said the freeze would affect 50 of its workers.
As some US activists have warned, among the first to suffer from these cuts are people living with HIV/AIDS. Total US aid to Uganda in 2013 was about $723M.
Labels: Africa, CDC, HIV/AIDS, Uganda
