US Embassy celebrates arrival of new HIV drug in Uganda

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The US embassy in Kampala has celebrated the arrival of the first consignment of 19,200 doses of Lenacapavir, a new HIV drug, in Uganda.

The drug, a twice-yearly injection, arrived two days ago and will be distributed to high-burden and high-incidence districts effective March 2026, according to Uganda’s Ministry of Health.

“US Embassy Uganda celebrates the arrival of Lenacapavir,” the embassy said on Thursday (February 26) on X, formerly Twitter, while reacting to the news of the drug’s arrival.

It noted that Lenacapavir is an American breakthrough in HIV prevention, co-funded by the US government and the Global Fund, together with Uganda’s Ministry of Health.

“From the first HIV patient on treatment to today’s progress toward ending HIV, the US leadership in science and global health continues to save lives in Uganda and makes America and the world safer,” the embassy added.

In June 2024, the US drug company Gilead, which developed the drug, announced that its trial had recorded a 100 percent success rate.

The drug is administered every six months to prevent HIV among persons at substantial risk of acquiring the virus. It can also be used to treat people living with HIV.

The Uganda AIDS Commission says in its latest report that a total of 1,527,238 people in the country were living with HIV last year, up from 1.2 million in 2010.

The commission states that the increase of 327,238 people living with HIV can be attributed to the Government’s test and treat policy, which has expanded antiretroviral therapy coverage and reduced AIDS-related mortality.

In 2024, President Yoweri Museveni reiterated his call to Ugandans to protect themselves from HIV infection, saying the disease limits an infected person’s capacity.

“There are certain things that you cannot do when you are infected. Like in the army, we discovered that when somebody over-exerts himself with the virus, it can cause a problem,” he said.

He therefore implored Ugandans not to say, “Let me get infected since the drugs are available and I will live a normal life."

“You will not die, but you will have deducted on your capacity,” he said during the World AIDS Day commemoration held at Bukungu Primary School playground in Bukungu town council, Buyende district.

The commemoration ran under the theme: “Accelerating Interventions to End HIV/AIDS by 2030”.