In the 2000s, U.S. HIV programs in sub-Saharan Africa, shaped by evangelical lobbying, promoted “sexual morality” messaging while sidelining comprehensive sex education. But while the aim was to prevent infection, songs such as the one Mutumba and her classmates sang often deepened stigma for people living with HIV, particularly children.
“The stigma was suffocating,” said Mutumba, MPH, PhD, now an assistant professor at Washington University School of Public Health in St. Louis. “If people even suspected someone had HIV, they whispered about them, avoided sitting near them, and washed their utensils separately. Friends and family often pulled away, and even health workers sometimes refused care because they were afraid of being infected. I remember women in labor left alone in maternity wards, effectively forced to deliver by themselves, simply because they were known or suspected to be HIV-positive.”
Uganda has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. According to the Uganda AIDS Commission, 1.5 million people in the country were living with HIV in 2024. An estimated 72,000 of them were children 14 and under, nearly all of whom acquired the infection from their mothers.