Africa: Armies grapple with HIV among troops

After years of dragging their feet over HIV/AIDS in their ranks, African armies are slowly making strides in curbing the spread of the pandemic, senior military officers at the fourth HIV Implementer's meeting in Kampala, Uganda, admitted this week. Since its formation in the mid-1980s, and all through the 1990s, the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) lost thousands of soldiers to HIV. President Yoweri Museveni declared HIV a threat to national security as early as 1987.