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HIV infections remain a burden in urban areas and among adolescent girls despite efforts to tame the epidemic, the Uganda Aids Commission (UAC) said yesterday.

Presenting the latest national surveillance data, officials from UAC, which coordinates Uganda’s response to the epidemic, noted that most of the recently-created cities have infection rates that are higher than – and in some cases double – the national HIV prevalence average of 5.1 percent.

Data shows that the overall number of new infections per year declined from 53,000 in 2019 to 38,000 in 2023 but the rate of decline is too slow for Uganda to meet its goal of eliminating HIV/Aids as a public health threat by 2030.

Urban areas with the highest HIV prevalence rates were Fort Portal City (14.1 percent), Soroti City (12.5 percent), and Lira City (12 percent), Arua City with 3.8 percent and Mbale City with 4.8 percent had the lowest HIV prevalence rate among the cities recently created by the government. However, Kalangala and Kabarole districts, which do not have city status, registered HIV prevalence rates of 13 and 11.6 percent, respectively.

Public health officials attributed the higher rates of infections in urban areas to widespread unsafe casual sex and prostitution.

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