Uganda: Uganda Must Rethink HIV Testing to Reach Those Who Don't Know Their Status-Experts
[Independent (Kampala)] Kampala, Uganda -- Public health specialists have called for new strategies to identify Ugandans who are living with HIV but remain unaware of their status, warning that traditional facility-based testing alone may not be enough as the population continues to grow.
Kampala, Uganda - Health experts are urging Uganda to rethink its HIV testing strategies to reach individuals who are unaware of their HIV status. The call comes as preliminary findings from the 2025 Uganda Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (UPHIA) reveal that a significant portion of the population living with HIV remains unaware of their infection.
Kenneth Mwehonge, Executive Director of the Coalition for Health Promotion and Social Development, emphasizes the need to move beyond traditional facility-based testing and target testing efforts in communities where new and undiagnosed infections are prevalent. He suggests that Uganda should learn from public health responses to outbreaks like Ebola, where health workers trace and test contacts of confirmed cases.
The UPHIA survey, conducted between July and September 2025, covered 94.4% of eligible households across the country and found that approximately 150,000 people remain unaware of their HIV status, translating to about 225,000 individuals who are living with HIV without knowledge of their infection. Regional disparities in HIV prevalence were also highlighted, with Southwestern Uganda experiencing the highest prevalence at 8%, while Karamoja recorded the lowest at 1.3%.
Women continue to bear a higher burden of HIV, with a prevalence of 7.3% compared to 4.1% among men. The Health Minister, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, acknowledges the progress made in increasing the proportion of people who know their HIV status and are on treatment but stresses that the primary challenge lies in identifying and testing those who are unaware of their status.
He advocates for expanded testing options, including HIV self-testing, to help close the remaining gap and achieve the national target of 95% of people knowing their HIV status by 2030.
Written by urgent.news from AllAfrica Health's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
