The United States helped many sick people in Uganda through a program called PEPFAR. This program gave money to help people with HIV and AIDS. It saved millions of lives in Africa. The US government stopped giving this money for three months to check if everything worked well.
This sudden drop in money caused some special health places to close down. These places helped people who had problems with drugs. One of these places was the Uganda Harm Reduction Network, which ran two health centers that helped many people.
A famous woman singer used these health centers. She does not want people to know her name because she feels shy about it. She became very good at music but started using drugs. The health center at Butabika Hospital helped her feel better. She went there for special medicine and talked with doctors. Many other singers also came to this place for help.
The doctors at Butabika Hospital feel very worried. They used to help more than one thousand people who needed special medicine. These people might become very sick without help. The hospital cannot find other ways to help them right away.
The leader of the Uganda Harm Reduction Network, Twaibu Wamala, feels sad about this. He said they made good progress in helping people stop using dangerous drugs. Many young people came to them for help. The health centers showed them better ways to live.
The Uganda government says about seventy thousand people need this kind of help. Most of these people counted on money from other countries to pay for their medicine. Diana Atwine, an important person in the Health Ministry, told workers they must stop their jobs because there is no money to pay them. She asked some workers to keep helping people without getting paid if they wanted to.
The government wants to find new ways to help sick people. They hope the United States will start giving money again after three months. If this does not happen, many people in Uganda might not receive the medical care they need.
This sudden drop in money caused some special health places to close down. These places helped people who had problems with drugs. One of these places was the Uganda Harm Reduction Network, which ran two health centers that helped many people.
A famous woman singer used these health centers. She does not want people to know her name because she feels shy about it. She became very good at music but started using drugs. The health center at Butabika Hospital helped her feel better. She went there for special medicine and talked with doctors. Many other singers also came to this place for help.
The doctors at Butabika Hospital feel very worried. They used to help more than one thousand people who needed special medicine. These people might become very sick without help. The hospital cannot find other ways to help them right away.
The leader of the Uganda Harm Reduction Network, Twaibu Wamala, feels sad about this. He said they made good progress in helping people stop using dangerous drugs. Many young people came to them for help. The health centers showed them better ways to live.
The Uganda government says about seventy thousand people need this kind of help. Most of these people counted on money from other countries to pay for their medicine. Diana Atwine, an important person in the Health Ministry, told workers they must stop their jobs because there is no money to pay them. She asked some workers to keep helping people without getting paid if they wanted to.
The government wants to find new ways to help sick people. They hope the United States will start giving money again after three months. If this does not happen, many people in Uganda might not receive the medical care they need.
