HIV alarm in Uganda as anti-gay 法律 軍隊s LGBT 'lockdown'
KAMPALA, June 8 (Reuters) - The HIV/エイズ 治療 centre in Kampala is almost empty, days after Uganda 制定するd one of the most draconian anti-gay 法律s on Earth.
The usual daily influx of around 50 患者s has all but 乾燥した，日照りのd up, say staff. Antiretroviral 麻薬s pile up 未使用の.
Andrew Tendo, 居住（者） 医療の officer at the US-基金d clinic, 警告するd that new waves of HIV 感染s were forming even as 攻撃を受けやすい people stayed away from 治療 centres, afraid of 存在 identified and 逮捕（する）d under the new 法律s.
"The LGBT community in Uganda is on lockdown now," he said. "They don't have 予防の services. They cannot 接近 condoms ... they cannot 接近 ARTs (antiretrovirals)."
Under the 法案, which 大統領 Yoweri Museveni 調印するd into 法律 last week, gay sex is 罰せられるべき by life in 刑務所，拘置所 while "悪化させるd homosexuality" - which 含むs transmitting HIV - is 罰せられるべき by death.
Until this year, the Kampala clinic had been a beacon of success for the fight against HIV in Uganda, where 1.4 million people live with the ウイルス and 17,000 die a year as a result of its 荒廃させるs, によれば the 明言する／公表する-run Uganda エイズ （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限.
Now, though, when 患者s do come in, it's often out of 絶対の necessity, said Tendo, 追加するing that the HIV 事例／患者s 現在のing had become more 厳しい as people skipped 治療s.
Uganda's health 大臣 論争d a suggestion from a US 公式の／役人 that the 法律 would 逆転する the country's 伸び（る）s fighting HIV/エイズ, 説 last week that the 政府 would 確実にする that 予防 programmes would remain accessible to those that needed them.
The health 省 拒絶する／低下するd to comment for this article.
Nonetheless, the t rend of HIV 患者s staying away from 治療 centres is 存在 mirrored on a 国家の level, によれば Mary Borgman, country director for the US 大統領's 緊急 計画（する） for エイズ 救済 (PEPFAR), which 基金s the Kampala clinic and about 80 other 減少（する）-in centres across Uganda.
She said 恐れる had ますます been deterring people from coming in for 治療 ever since the anti-gay 法案 was introduced in 議会 in March.
'AFRAID TO LEAVE HOME'
A rare 患者 visiting the Kampala clinic said he despaired at the new 法律制定.
"I felt so sad when the 法律 was 制定するd because we 恐れる PEPFAR will 削減（する） off 基金ing for the 解放する／自由な services we have been receiving," said the 27-year-old gay man, who asked not to be identified for 恐れる of 存在 的d by 当局.
"Members of the LGBT community are afraid to leave their homes, which means even if the 基金s are not 削減（する） some will still not 捜し出す services, and that's very depressing to think about."
Such 恐れるs of 減ずるd American 基金ing aren't far-fetched; after Museveni 調印するd the 法案 into 法律, US 大統領 Joe Biden directed his 国家の 安全 会議 to 評価する the 関わりあい／含蓄s for US 約束／交戦 with Uganda, 含むing PEPFAR.
In the 2021/2022 会計年度, PEPFAR 供給するd $418.4 million in 基金ing to Uganda, more than half of the country's HIV/エイズ 治療 予算.
The programme has been instrumental in Uganda's 進歩 against HIV/エイズ, which 含むs a nearly ten-倍の 削減 in mother-to-child HIV 伝達／伝染 over the past two １０年間s.
PEPFAR 見積（る）s its support for the 規模-up of antiretroviral 治療s in Uganda helped 回避する nearly 600,000 HIV-関係のある deaths between 2004 and 2022.
Borgman said the American 政府 was acutely aware of the 衝撃 any 基金ing 削減（する）s would have on 攻撃を受けやすい communities, 含むing LGBTQ Ugandans.
"The review is around whether we can operate within the 環境 that we are 供給するd with," Borgman said, without (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述するing on 明確な／細部 合法的な 関心s.
REPORTING GAY ACTIVITY
Lillian Mworeko, the East African 地域の 調整者／コーディネーター for the International Community of Women living with HIV/エイズ, said some providers 恐れるd that 申し込む／申し出ing 医療の services to LGBTQ 患者s could be classed as "促進するing" homosexuality, an offence 罰せられるべき by 20 years in 刑務所，拘置所 under the new 法律.
The Ugandan 法案 toughened up an 存在するing British 植民地の-時代 法律, under which gay sex was already 違法な. Proponents say the new 法律制定 is needed to 反対する what they 主張する are 成果／努力s by LGBTQ Ugandans to 新採用する children into homosexuality.
The 修正するd 見解／翻訳／版 調印するd by Museveni didn't criminalise 単に identifying as LGBTQ - as a previous 見解／翻訳／版 did - and 改訂するd a 手段 that 要求するd people to 報告（する）／憶測 gay activity to only 強いる 報告（する）／憶測ing when a child was 伴う／関わるd.
At the Kampala clinic, run by 地元の charity Icebreakers Uganda, 医療の officer Tendo said he understood the 恐れるs of LGBTQ people in Uganda who often 耐えるd painful lives, featuring 拒絶 by their families and 逮捕（する）s.
"The 大多数 of these people, like transgender or queer people, have gone through a lot already," he 追加するd. "They wouldn't want to be in a place where they can be （警察の）手入れ，急襲d or 拘留するd at any time." (Editing by Aaron Ross and Pravin Char)
