On February 6, 2020, The Government of Uganda, led by the Ministry of Health, launched the second Uganda Population-based HIV Impact Assessment survey (UPHIA 2020) to unveil the current situation of the HIV epidemic in Uganda and effectiveness of existing responses.
At the national UPHIA 2020 launch, the Honorable Jane Aceng, Uganda’s Minister of Health, stressed the importance of the survey to assemble and analyze Uganda’s status toward reaching national, regional and global HIV targets.
“The survey will build on the one we conducted in 2016 and will provide important information to measure progress towards global UNAIDS and the national HIV epidemic control targets. The PHIA surveys are, for the first time, providing HIV program impact assessment indicators such as HIV incidence and viral load suppression which are the more sensitive markers of the progress towards epidemic control,” said Minister Aceng.
In 2016, the first UPHIA survey found that approximately 1.2 million adults (15-49 years) in Uganda were living with HIV with estimated 73,000 new infection that year. It also emphasized that, although major strides have been made in treatment and care services, there was still the need to enhance efforts to identify all persons living with HIV. In response, Uganda has committed to closing this gap and achieving global HIV testing and treatment targets set by UNAIDS.
UPHIA 2020 will reach approximately 10,000 households across the nation to help the government and its partners know how many people 15 years and older are currently living with HIV; those with new HIV infections; are on life-saving antiretroviral treatment; and have achieved viral load suppression.
“The UPHIA 2020 survey will document strides Uganda has made in the past four years. This new data will further guide HIV policy and funding priorities and, when combined with those from other upcoming surveys, will help inform the course of the global HIV response to achieve an AIDS-free generation” said David Hoos, MD, ICAP’s PHIA Project Director, at the national launch.
The UPHIA 2020 survey began on February 20 with survey teams collecting valuable information from households across the nation over the next few months. For more details, visit: https://phia.icap.columbia.edu/countries/Uganda.
—
