NKUMBA, Uganda, 22 December 2003 — The words “Stay Safe” emblazoned across his bright yellow T-shirt, 10-year-old Joseph is wise beyond his years.

An AIDS orphan catapulted into maturity by loss and illness, he shared some of his knowledge with a US delegation, led by Health Secretary Tommy Thompson, when it recently toured his native Uganda to find out more about AIDS.

“In order to avoid AIDS we should do three things,” Joseph told them, peering out from under a yellow paper sun visor.

“Abstain from sex, avoid bad friends and be strong when we lose our loved ones.”

Uganda has used its ABC anti-AIDS slogan for years, with considerable success. A is for Abstinence, B for Being faithful to one’s partner, C for using Condoms.

Now it has adapted that formula in a new drive to target pre-teens, hoping to inform an age group that will soon be at high risk of contracting the disease that had killed an estimated 947,952 Ugandans by December 2001.

For pre-adolescents, A is Abstain, B avoid Bad friends and C Courage in times of loss.

The strategy known as PIASCY (Presidential Initiative on AIDS strategy for Communication to Youth) was launched last year, as the government realized the need to target children before it was too late. Joseph, a primary school student who lost his father three years ago and his mother last November, is a pioneer in the new program.

“The youth are the most vulnerable and we have to keep renewing the message to keep their attention and more importantly harness peer influence to help in the war,” Health Minister Jim Muhwezi told Reuters.

“Children, if given a mission or message can be single-minded champions and in this case, can also influence their parents.”

Open discussion of the issues at stake is at the heart of the new program, which seeks to inform youngsters about the disease and how to avoid getting it.

Every primary school now has a mandatory fortnightly assembly where children discuss HIV/AIDS, how the disease is transmitted, respect between boys and girls and discouraging heavy petting.

Muhwezi said there was an initial resistance to teaching young children about sex and AIDS.

“At first parents complained about it but we told them we are teaching AIDS prevention and not sex education and they relaxed,” he said. “But the truth is can you teach one without the other?”

The minister likened the battle against AIDS to the experiences of the guerrilla bush war which brought current President Yoweri Museveni to power in 1986. During the war, Museveni and his rebels used children as active fighters.

“When we were in the bush we had to survive and win against superior forces,” he said. “With AIDS we find ourselves in the same situation with little resources and a deadly and powerful enemy.” The Uganda AIDS commission says there are two million AIDS orphans in Uganda today. Official figures show that 1,050,555 people in the country are living with HIV.

Uganda was once considered one of the epicenters of the disease. But a determined and courageous government campaign saw prevalence rates drop considerably in the past decade — official figures suggest six percent of Uganda’s 26.5 million people are now infected, compared to 30 percent in the 1980s.

In Uganda, despite past successes, it is clear there is still a long way to go. Muhwezi said the government was prepared to try anything in its bid to beat the disease.

“This war is winnable if everyone is on board,” he said. “No one will fight it for us, they can only help us. There is no choice: we win or we die.”