HIV and TB Overview: Uganda

Strategic focus

In 1991, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began HIV research in Uganda, officially establishing a CDC country office in 2000. With the launch of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, Uganda became a focus country for the delivery of high-quality HIV and tuberculosis (TB) services. CDC supports the Uganda Ministry of Health (MOH) and numerous partners in strengthening HIV and TB treatment and prevention efforts building public health emergency preparedness and response. Using an integrated service delivery model, CDC is finding more people living with HIV (PLHIV), linking them to antiretroviral therapy (ART), and scaling up viral load testing to monitor for viral suppression. CDC also supports TB diagnosis, treatment, and prevention among PLHIV.

Read more about CDC's most recent key activities and accomplishments below.

Building public health capacity

• Supported program monitoring and evaluation, disease and case-based surveillance, information systems, and public health research to drive evidence-based HIV, TB, and other global health programs.
• Conducted Integrated Bio-behavioral surveys to estimate the burden of HIV disease among people at greater risk, a national prevalence survey for TB, assessing HIV prevalence, and an evaluation of non-communicable disease management for PLHIV.
• Supported the MOH to launch the third round of the Population-Based HIV Impact Assessments (PHIA), following previous surveys in 2016 and 2020. Uganda is one of only five PEPFAR-supported countries conducting a third PHIA.

Strengthening laboratory systems and network

• Supported laboratory system strengthening efforts focusing on HIV and TB testing, disease surveillance, outbreak response and emergency preparedness, and laboratory services for non-communicable diseases.
• Strengthened laboratory network and capacity improvement through the hubs systems to ensure timely, accurate results – enhancing timely sample referral, quality management systems, biosafety and biosecurity, laboratory information systems, supply chains, and equipment management initiatives.
• Helped 85 laboratories attain accreditation to international standards for the provision of accurate and reliable test results, significantly increased from only seven in 2015.

HIV prevention and treatment

• Reduced new HIV infections through prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), peer-based programs for people at greater risk for HIV, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
• Provided lifesaving ART to 770,535 PLHIV in FY2024, with 98 percent on dolutegravir-based regimens, and 97 percent virally suppressed.
• Supported 868,391 (49 percent) pregnant women at PEPFAR PMTCT clinics receive antenatal services in FY2024. Of these, 99 percent (857,627) knew their HIV status, with 40,317 identified as living with HIV (LWHIV).
• Enrolled all pregnant women LWHIV in lifesaving ART, ensuring infants were born HIV-free. Early mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Uganda decreased by more than 80 percent, from 7.5 percent in 2014 to 1.3 percent in 2024.
• Supported clinical services for advanced HIV disease, including access to cryptococcal treatment.
• Assisted the MOH in expanding cervical cancer screening and treatment for pre-cancerous lesions for women LWHIV, reaching 299,640 (75 percent) women in two years.

Tuberculosis prevention and treatment

• Improved the retention of HIV and TB clients through the use of differentiated service delivery, reducing interruptions in treatment by 20 percent (from 2.4 percent to 1.9 percent.)
• Prevented TB among PLHIV through scale-up of TB preventive treatment —achieving 70.6 percent of the enrollment target and 92 percent completion among all PLHIV in FY2024.
• Supported 97 percent of TB patients diagnosed with HIV receiving ART, and 99 percent of PLHIV diagnosed with TB receiving TB treatment in FY2024.

By the numbers

HIV

TB

Resources

Our success is built on the backbone of science and strong partnerships.