HIV prevalence higher among women and girls in Africa

Statistics show a decline in the number of new HIV infections as of 2014. Photo by Rachel Mabala.

According to the United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (Unaids), as of 2014, the country’s HIV prevalence rate has stagnated at 7.3 for more than four years while the estimated number of people living with HIV/Aids is approximately 1.6 million.

HIV prevalence has slightly been higher in women than men but the prevalence slightly reduced between the 2004/2005 and 2011 Aids Indicator Survey in Kampala, central and eastern regions according to the 2013 Uganda progress report.

The report further states that in 2012, 93 per cent of people living with HIV (PLHIV) were adults aged 15 years and above. Of these, women constituted 56 per cent representing 770,000.

The Ministry of Health projections state that there were 1,618,233 people living with HIV in 2013 of whom 1,441,285 were adults, and 176,948 children below 15 years. The same source indicates a decline in Aids-related deaths between 2011 and 2013; from 72,928 in 2011, 70,262 in 2012, and 61,298 in 2013 to 33,000 in 2014. Children orphaned as a result of HIV were 650,000 by the end of 2014.

There were 793,893 people on antiretroviral therapy by end of 2013 but only 570,373 on active treatment according to Unaids. A decline has also been noted in the HIV incidence in children reducing from 27,660 in 2011, to less than 90,000 by June 2015.
In 2012, an additional 1.7 million people living with HIV received antiretroviral therapy.
The number of new infections reduced from 137,000 in 2011 to 127,000 as of 2014.

HIV prevalence is estimated to be 28 times higher among people who inject drugs, 12 times higher among sex workers, and in sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women account for one in four new HIV infections.