Rising New HIV Infections Among Young Girls Threaten Uganda’s 2030 Goal to End AIDS

The Uganda AIDS Commission is raising concerns about the country’s 2030 goal of ending the AIDS epidemic being severely threatened by a surge in new HIV infections among young girls. These increasing infections are attributed to the failure to implement effective AIDS prevention policies and limited resources available for combating the epidemic. These concerns are at the forefront of discussions leading up to this year’s AIDS symposium organized by the Uganda AIDS Commission, scheduled for November 14th at Kololo.

According to the Uganda AIDS Commission, there is a worrying upward trend in HIV infections among young adolescents and women, which poses a significant setback to Uganda’s ambitious plan of ending AIDS by 2030. Dr. Daniel Byamukama, the Head of HIV Prevention at the Uganda AIDS Commission, revealed that in 2020, adolescent girls were four times more likely to be infected with HIV than boys. This is particularly concerning as there were 33,000 new infections among women compared to 20,000 infections among men.

Dr. Daniel Byamukama emphasized the urgency of addressing the rising infections among adolescents, as it poses a severe risk to Uganda’s strategy to end HIV/AIDS by 2030.

Dr. Denis Tindyebwa, the Chairperson of the Scientific Committee for the HIV Symposium 2023, highlighted the importance of the upcoming symposium in revitalizing efforts to combat AIDS. He also expressed concern about the increasing infections among adolescents, which could hamper Uganda’s efforts to meet its goal of ending AIDS by 2030.

Partners in the fight against HIV acknowledged Uganda’s progress in addressing the AIDS epidemic and its goal of ending AIDS by 2030. However, the rate at which new infections are emerging is a cause for concern. Last year, Uganda recorded 52,000 new infections and 2,000 deaths from AIDS, underscoring the pressing need to enhance prevention efforts and resource allocation to meet the ambitious target.