By As Uganda prepares to mark this year’s International Candlelight Memorial Day, health leaders and experts are sounding the alarm over a silent crisis an escalating number of new HIV infections among young women and adolescent girls.
“Every hour, six Ugandans are infected with HIV and almost half of them are young women between 15 and 24,” warned Canon Dr. Ruth Senyonyi, Board Chair of the Uganda AIDS Commission, during a press briefing ahead of the May 16th commemorations.
Under the theme “Ending AIDS by 2030: Building a Sustainable HIV Response,” this year’s memorial will serve not only to remember lives lost but to refocus the nation’s attention on the communities still at risk especially youth.
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Dr. Senyonyi emphasized that complacency and stigma are undoing years of progress. “The virus thrives in silence. Stigma is still keeping people from testing, from treatment, from hope,” she said. “And young people, the future of our country, are suffering the most.”
Dr. Vincent Bagambe, representing the Director General of the Uganda AIDS Commission, echoed the urgency of the message. “This is one of the oldest commemorative events in the AIDS response, and it reminds us that HIV is still with us,” he said. “We still record 38,000 new HIV infections every year that’s nearly 1,000 a week.”
The Commission revealed that despite a drop in national HIV prevalence from 18% in the 1980s to 5.1% today, the fight is far from over. With over 1.49 million Ugandans living with HIV, Uganda remains one of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic.
To raise awareness and offer free testing, a national solidarity walk will be held on Friday, May 16, beginning at City Square and ending at the Uganda AIDS Commission offices in Kampala. The walk will be led by Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda, Minister for the Presidency. HIV testing services will be provided at Constitutional Square, Nakawa, and Ntinda markets.
The event is a powerful symbol of remembrance and resistance one that also serves as a wake-up call. “We are running out of time,” Dr. Senyonyi stressed. “2030 is around the corner, and if we don’t act now boldly, collectively we will fail the most vulnerable.”
Joining the call to action, UNAIDS Country Director Ms. Jaqueline Makokha emphasized the need for sustainable, homegrown solutions. “To truly end AIDS and save lives, the response must be domestically owned,” she said. “The bulk of resources must come from within our own borders that’s the only way to sustain progress in the face of shifting global funding.”
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Dr. Bagambe also appealed to the media to help keep HIV in the public conversation. “We know that 92% of Ugandans living with HIV have tested and know their status but 8% are still unaware. These are the people unknowingly spreading the virus, and they must be reached through sustained awareness,” he said.
Uganda’s response has been challenged by reduced donor funding, with treatment costs nearing UGX 700,000 per person annually. Dr. Senyonyi said the government is working on a sustainability roadmap to reduce dependence on external support.
Makokha also called for greater attention to vulnerable groups. “We must reach those at the margins of society adolescent girls, sex workers, and others who often remain invisible in mainstream health systems,” she said. “Without a strong community response, the entire structure of the HIV fight becomes unstable.”
Ugandans are encouraged to join the national walk on May 16 and commit to building a future free of HIV and its devastating effects.
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