KAMPALA, Oct. 1 — Uganda’s HIV prevalence rate remained largely unchanged at 5.9 percent among people aged 15 and above, compared with the 5.8 percent recorded five years ago, according to a report released by the Ministry of Health on Thursday.
Unveiling the preliminary results of the 2025 Uganda Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (UPHIA), Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi told reporters that the prevalence rate was 7.3 percent among women and 4.1 percent among men, corresponding to about 1.5 million people aged 15 and above living with HIV.
Although the current prevalence rate is far lower than the 18 percent recorded in Uganda in the 1990s, “there is still work needed to pull it down further,” Baryomunsi said. He said that despite the national prevalence rate remaining largely unchanged, Uganda is close to meeting the global target of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
The UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets call for 95 percent of people living with HIV to know their status, 95 percent of those diagnosed with HIV to be on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 95 percent of those on ART to achieve viral suppression.
Baryomunsi said Uganda had achieved an 85.3 percent diagnosis rate among people living with HIV, while 99.1 percent of people living with HIV had been placed on ART and 96.5 percent of those on ART had achieved viral suppression.
Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health, said the findings of the new study would guide the government in determining areas that require greater focus to achieve the global targets.
She said the biggest task now is to identify and place on treatment the more than 150,000 people who are living with HIV but do not know their status and are not on ART.
The survey was conducted from July to September 2025 by officials from the Ministry of Health and other partners. More than 6,200 households participated in the survey, involving 8,317 women and 6,361 men aged 15 and above.
Uganda conducts the UPHIA every five years to guide national efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
