No sex until marriage!': moralism, politics and the realities of HIV prevention in Uganda, 1986-1996

Abstract

This article investigates the historical origins of Uganda's HIV and AIDS prevention and the challenges it faced. By utilising a variety of sources, the article draws a picture of the early prevention campaign that ended in crisis in 1990, the consequent refurbishment of anti-AIDS efforts in the early 1990s and the ideological and practical problems they faced. The article argues that before the mid-1990s the HIV prevention measures were reluctantly accepted by the majority of Ugandans and that not only the Ugandan public, but also the political leaders, donors and professionals involved in AIDS control in the early 1990s recognised this. The article puts the making of the Ugandan 'success story' in its historical context, suggesting that it may have involved motives of great urgency and significance for the future of anti-AIDS work in sub-Saharan Africa.