Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, and gay people often face arrest, ostracism and violence at the hands of law enforcement or local vigilantes.
Many who have HIV have not come out to friends, family members and co-workers and prefer to hide that they have an illness that disproportionately affects the LGBI community.
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The GSK treatment secured U.S. approval in January 2021.
GSK struck a deal in July to allow low-cost generic versions to be used in the developing world for a version of the drug used for HIV prevention but said the first generics will potentially only become available in 2026 because of regulatory requirements for manufacture and use.
In the interim, GSK said it was working on providing governments the regimen free of charge to run studies. Trials are also taking place in Kenya and South Africa.
William Tamale, a manager of the injectable antiretroviral treatment programme at Uganda’s Joint Clinical Research Centre, said the drugs were “very promising.”
The JCRC was chosen to administer the trial of the injectable drugs and Tamale is in charge of that progamme in Uganda, where at least 1.4 million people live with HIV/AIDS.
(This story has been corrected to show studies of the treatment have shown similar efficacy as daily oral pills in paragraph 4, date to January 2021 in paragraph 10, and to say the GSK generic versions deal was for HIV prevention, not treatment, in paragraph 11)
