As drivers weave through Kampala's streets, a huge billboard promoting abstinence looks down from above a roundabout.
"Sex can wait, my future can't," it says, with a picture of four youthful Ugandans smiling at the traffic below. "Abstain and avoid HIV/ Aids."
Uganda isoften cited as a relative success in the battle against the disease ravaging Africa. Since the early 1990s the nation's HIV/Aids rate has fallen from 30 per cent to 6 or 7 per cent, and President Yoweri Museveni has been praised for leading the campaign.
But recently he and his government have been in the news for very different reasons, finding themselves at the centre of a highly charged debate surrounding the use of condoms and the influence of religion and the US administration.
According to activists and a senior UN official, Uganda has been suffering a dangerous 11-month condom shortage, with the government accused of deliberately hindering their distribution.
The Centre for Health and Gender Equity, a US pressure group, says Uganda, which has a population of 26m, needs 120m-150m condoms annually, but claims fewer than 30m are available. The government dismisses the charges.
George Michael Mukula, minister of state for health, told the Financial Times that 55m condoms had already been distributed for free this year while the government has another 55m Lifeguard condoms - a new brand - ready for release. Average consumption is 5m per month. The government is continuing with its "ABC" strategy, a three-pronged approach promoting abstinence, being faithful and condoms.
"The policy has always remained ABC and all are given equal weight," he said. "There's no crisis."
Under US president George W. Bush's $15bn emergency plan for Aids relief (Pepfar), a third of the funds earmarked for prevention goes to programmes promoting abstinence or being faithful.
US officials counter claims that Pepfar is driving and exacerbating the condom crisis. Dr Mark Dybul, deputy US global Aids co-ordinator, describes the accusations as "utter rubbish."
He says there has been a shift in US policy with increasing emphasis on abstinence and being faithful, but only because "the approach of condoms-only in a generalised epidemic will fail; you need a far more comprehensive programme."
"Hundreds of career professionals do not understand where this criticism is coming from," he said, denying that political or religious issues drive Pepfar.
This year, Uganda received a budget allocation of $148.4m (£84.6m, €125m) from Pepfar, up from $90.7m in 2004. The US has purchased 21.2m condoms for the nation during the past 11 months, he says.
Mr Dybul makes no apologies about Pepfar working with faith-based groups - about 20 per cent of its partners in 15 "focus countries" fall into that category - arguing it is a result of "effectiveness" not ideology.
"Faith-based and community organisations are in rural areas where international organisations would not consider going," he said. "I wish we had more."
Yet the role of religion in the battle against Aids is doubled-edged and controversial. In Uganda, activists say the fact that Janet Museveni, the first lady, is a born-again Christian, believed to be influenced by rightwing US groups, and a staunch advocate of abstinence-only programmes, has an impact on government policy.
"The situation is being fuelled by moralist groups and our political leaders," said Beatrice Were of ActionAid Uganda. "Those of us promoting condoms are looked at as the bad ones, promoting what is not morally correct."
In many African nations, religious organisations play a significant role in society, helping fill voids left by ineffective states and an absence of welfare systems. But few church leaders, Protestant or Catholic, advocate condom use.
In Kampala, billboards promoting abstinence, like the one at the roundabout sponsored by the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, dominate, while condom advertising seems to have disappeared. What makes Uganda unique is the cocktail of religion, US influence, Christian groups and Mrs Museveni's beliefs, experts say.
Mr Lewis described it as a "strange brew."
However, religious bodies also play a positive role, providing assistance to many Aids victims. In neighbouring Kenya, for example, missionaries run about 50 per cent of medical facilities, and some 25,000 of the 44,000 Kenyans infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, receive antiretroviral treatment through faith-based organisations.
In contrast, the government treats approximately 10,000 people according to Médecins Sans Frontières.
And nobody doubts that abstinence and being faithful are important messages. The key, experts say, is ensuring the A, B and C elements all receive equal attention.
