Gideon Byamugisha

[1][2] In 2009, Byamugisha received the 26th annual Niwano Peace Prize "in recognition of his work to uphold the dignity and human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS".

[citation needed] In 1990, Byamugisha's his first wife Kellen gave birth to his daughter, Patience, and both parents had been accepted to study at graduate programs in Britain.

[4] Although there was a possibility that he would lose his job because of the stigma associated with AIDS, Byamugisha decided to tell the principal of the college he worked at and other staff members about his condition.

Told that he would only live 6 months without ARVs, the bishop of Kampala used the church network to find two donors (an American and a Singaporean) who began sending him the drugs in 1997.

At the time, there was much misinformation about AIDS and HIV in Africa, and because of the promises and edicts from Christian, Muslim and Hindu groups on the continent, to have a religious leader infected or even affected personally was unthinkable.

Eight of the participants were HIV+, and this group later became the African Network of Religious Leaders Living with and Personally Affected HIV and Aids (ANERELA+),[4] and grew to more than 2000 members in 39 countries by the end of 2006.

[4] Major issues Byamugisha sees in charity organisations include their insistence on policies that match the domestic agendas of donor agencies rather than accept the realities of society in Africa.

While the Catholic Church and other religious communities had softened their stance on condom usage and AIDS education in Africa, organisations such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the biggest donor in Uganda, continued to insist on education about abstinence or delay of sexual debut for young people, and on fidelity or partner reduction for most adults, two interventions Byamugisha has been critical of as "stigmatizing" to those who cannot or will not abstain or be faithful to one partner.