Only 64% of young women have suppressed HIV — survey
Only 64.1% of Ugandan women aged 15–24 living with HIV had achieved viral suppression in 2025, far below the national adult average of 86%, highlighting a major treatment gap among young women.
Health minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi
KAMPALA - Only 64.1% of Ugandan women aged 15–24 living with HIV have suppressed the virus to very low levels, leaving young women significantly behind the national adult average, according to new government survey findings.
The 2025 Uganda Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (UPHIA), whose preliminary results were released on Thursday, October 1st at Media Centre, found that overall viral load suppression among adults living with HIV had risen to 86%, up from 75.4% in the previous survey conducted in 2020/21.
Among young women aged 15–24 living with HIV, only about six in 10 had achieved viral suppression, meaning more than one in three had not reached the level needed to keep the virus under control.
Viral suppression is a key measure of HIV treatment success. When a person taking antiretroviral therapy has an undetectable viral load, the amount of virus in the blood is greatly reduced, helping protect their health and preventing sexual transmission of HIV, according to the health minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi.
The finding places young women among the groups where Uganda still faces a substantial treatment and retention challenge, even as the country has made major progress in controlling HIV among the wider adult population.
Dr Sam Biraru, project director for the survey at Makerere University School of Public Health, said the overall improvement in viral suppression reflects the growing effectiveness of Uganda’s HIV treatment programme, but the differences between groups require attention.
The survey found that viral suppression was particularly high among older adults. Among people aged 55–64 living with HIV, 93.8% of women and 98.8% of men had suppressed viral loads. This contrasts sharply with the 64.1% recorded among women aged 15–24.
The gap comes as the survey also shows that HIV prevalence among young women rises sharply between the late teenage years and early adulthood. Among women aged 15–19, HIV prevalence was 1.3%, increasing to 2.8% among those aged 20–24.
Among men, prevalence rose from 0.6% among those aged 15–19 to 1.5% among those aged 20–24. Overall, HIV prevalence among people aged 15–24 was 1.5%, with women at 2% compared with 1% among men.
According to Dr Biraro, the findings suggest that Uganda's HIV response must not only focus on preventing new infections among young people but also ensure that those who are already living with the virus are diagnosed, linked to treatment and supported to remain on treatment.
However, the overall figures mask gaps at earlier stages of the HIV treatment cascade and among particular age groups. The survey estimated that about 14.7% of adults living with HIV did not know their HIV status.
The survey was conducted between July and September 2025 and covered 6,283 eligible households across Uganda. About 94.4% of eligible households participated.
The assessment interviewed more than 8,300 eligible women and 6,300 men aged 15 and above, with blood testing conducted to determine HIV status and viral load.
Unlike the previous UPHIA, the preliminary findings released this week do not yet provide the full picture on HIV incidence and new infections.
While launching the report, Baryomunsi described the survey as an important accountability tool for measuring the country's progress and guiding the next phase of the HIV response.
The findings also showed that the country has made considerable progress overall. Viral suppression among adults living with HIV has risen from 75.4% in 2020/21 to 86% in 2025, with 86% nationally and 64.1% among young women.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Diana Atwine, said the survey provides government with evidence to determine where prevention and treatment efforts should be concentrated.
She said the findings would provide a roadmap for the next phase of Uganda's HIV response, particularly in reaching people who have not yet been diagnosed and maintaining treatment among those already on ART.
“We are making progress, but Uganda has about 150,000 people with HIV, and they do not know about their status. We should focus; we should strategise on finding them because they can bring in many new infections,” she said.
Mikael (Mika) Cleverley, the Chargé D’affaires at the U.S. Embassy Uganda, said the latest findings showed the gains made through more than two decades of HIV investment, with Uganda now able to see more clearly where further work is needed, particularly on testing, prevention and treatment among groups with larger gaps.
He said the proportion of adults living with HIV who had maintained treatment and achieved viral suppression had risen from about 60% a decade ago to 86%, allowing more people living with HIV to remain healthy and avoid transmitting the virus.
Cleverley also said the 2025 assessment marked a shift towards greater Ugandan ownership, as it was the first UPHIA round to be fully led and implemented by Ugandan institutions, from survey design and data collection to laboratory work and analysis.
“This study was led by Ugandan scientists, Ugandan managers, Ugandan public servants, and Ugandan field teams from design to data collection to analysis.”
Key findings of the survey
Uganda HIV burden stands at 5.9%, with 1.49 million people living with HIV. According to the new data, the Southwestern region now has Uganda's highest HIV prevalence at 8%, up from 6.3% in 2020/21.
This represents a 1.7 percentage-point increase and places the region ahead of South Buganda, which previously had the country's highest prevalence at 8.1% in 2020/21.
South Buganda recorded a decline from 8.1% in 2020/21 to 7.3% in 2025, while North Buganda moved in the opposite direction, rising from 6.2% to 7.2%. The Mid-Western region increased from 5.5% to 6.1%, while Northeast Teso rose from 4.2% to 4.8%.
The Mid-North region fell from 7.6% to 6.8%, while Kampala dropped from 6% to 5.4%. East Central declined from 4.5% to 4%, while Karamoja fell from 2% to 1.3%. West Nile recorded the largest regional decline, with prevalence falling from 2.8% to 1.4%.
Only 64.1% of Ugandan women aged 15–24 living with HIV had achieved viral suppression in 2025, far below the national adult average of 86%, highlighting a major treatment gap among young women.
Nationally, 85.3% of adults living with HIV knew their status, 99.1% of those diagnosed were receiving antiretroviral treatment, and 96.5% of those on treatment had achieved viral suppression.
The survey estimated adult HIV prevalence at 5.9%, with women at 7.3% and men at 4.1%, while viral suppression increased from 75.4% in 2020/21 to 86% in 2025.