Uganda entered 2025 with cautious optimism in its decades-long fight against HIV/AIDS. National data shows HIV prevalence among adults aged 15–49 fell to 4.9% in 2024, down from 5.1% in 2023. The country also registered fewer new infections and AIDS-related deaths, signaling that investments in awareness, treatment, and prevention are paying off.
In 2024, Uganda recorded 37,000 new HIV infections, a 61% decline since 2010, but still translating to about 101 new cases daily. AIDS-related deaths also fell to 20,000 in 2024 from 56,000 in 2010, a 63% drop attributed to wider treatment rollout and better awareness. More than 1.3 million Ugandans are now accessing antiretroviral therapy (ART), a cornerstone of survival and transmission prevention.
Despite this progress, challenges remain. By the end of 2024, an estimated 1.53 million Ugandans were living with HIV, with women disproportionately affected 930,000 compared to 570,000 men. Women’s prevalence stood at 6.4%, nearly double men’s 3.4%, reflecting gender inequality, unequal healthcare access, and cultural norms that increase female vulnerability. Geographic disparities are also stark, with Fort Portal City reporting the highest prevalence at 14%, while West Nile recorded just 2.3%.
This fragile progress now faces a critical threat due to Washington’s recent freeze on global health funding, including support for UNAIDS and PEPFAR. Uganda’s Ministry of Health estimates a Shs400 billion financing gap, raising fears of ARV stock-outs, reduced HIV testing, and disruption of prevention programs such as condom distribution and male circumcision.
Without predictable funding, Uganda’s drive toward the 95-95-95 targets where 95% of people living with HIV know their status, 95% of those diagnosed are on treatment, and 95% of those on treatment achieve viral suppression could stall. Interruptions in testing and treatment risk undermining viral suppression, increasing new infections, and reversing the decline in AIDS-related deaths.
Young Ugandans are particularly vulnerable. While infections among the youth have declined by 57% in the last decade, adolescent girls and young women remain disproportionately at risk. Many rely on donor-funded outreach for testing, counseling, and prevention education services now jeopardized by the funding freeze.
Uganda must act quickly to fill the financial void. Proposals include boosting domestic health financing, partnering with the private sector, and seeking new bilateral donors. Beyond funding, addressing structural drivers such as gender inequality, stigma, and unsafe sexual practices remains crucial.
Uganda has shown resilience, moving from the devastation of the 1990s epidemic to today’s steady gains. Yet without urgent action to secure funding and maintain treatment pipelines, this hard-won progress could slip away, leaving the country’s most vulnerable to bear the heaviest burden.
