Zombo, Uganda: Zombo District has hailed 8,916 people living with HIV (PLHIV) currently enrolled in care for achieving an ART adherence rate of 89.4%, as the district marked World AIDS Day 2025 under the global theme “Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response.”
Addressing hundreds at Ajei Primary School playground, District Health Officer Dr Mark Bonny Bramali presented the latest HIV performance indicators where Total PLHIV in care: 8,916, ART adherence rate: 89.4%, Viral load suppression: 87.6% and 12-month retention: 85.3%.
“We are close to the 95-95-95 targets, but we must push harder, especially on viral suppression and retention,” Dr. Bramali said, adding that HIV burden remains highest among adolescents and young adults.
Over the past year, 46,281 people were tested for HIV in Zombo, with a 1.4% positivity rate, translating to roughly two new infections per 100 tests. Bramali described the number as “still unacceptably high.”
Zombo’s adult HIV prevalence stands at 4%, higher than neighbouring Pakwach (3%) and Nebbi (3%), and significantly above the West Nile regional average of 2.3%.
Nationally, data from the Uganda AIDS Commission shows five new HIV infections occur every hour (37,000 annually), with 54 AIDS-related deaths daily. Mother-to-child transmission remains worrying, with 4,700 infants infected annually — an MTCT rate of 466 per 100,000 live births.
Community Voices and Ongoing Barriers
Collins Canudwoga, Chairperson of the Zombo District PLHIV Network Forum, highlighted stigma, discrimination, and low adherence among men as the biggest barriers to epidemic control.
PLHIV shared emotional testimonies of achieving undetectable viral loads through consistent treatment, encouraging early testing and lifelong adherence.
Assistant RDC Bruno Mananu urged residents to adopt routine HIV testing as “a cornerstone of public health security.”
Chief guest Ora County MP Lawrence Biyika Songa warned young people against high-risk behaviours, including alcohol abuse, late-night lifestyles, and multiple sexual partnerships.
The day began with a grand march led by the St. Aloysius College Nyapea Brass Band, drawing PLHIV groups, health workers and district leaders through Ajei Trading Centre.
As the world marked the 37th World AIDS Day, UNAIDS called for closing funding gaps caused by the 2025 disruptions, boosting domestic financing, strengthening human rights-based responses and accelerating rollout of innovative prevention tools such as long-acting PrEP.
Globally, 77% of 39 million PLHIV are on ART, and 94% of those on treatment have achieved viral suppression — progress experts say must be sustained to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
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