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If you have malaria, taking and completing malaria medicines as advised by the health worker is one of the ways to control malaria.

Investing in Ugandans’ health and future

As the world’s leading global health development partner and largest supporter health assistance to Uganda, the United States is committed to improving the health of Ugandans of all genders, ages and backgrounds. The U.S. Government seeks to strengthen Uganda’s capacity to address HIV/AIDS, malaria, maternal/child health, family planning, emerging health threats, health systems strengthening, and other health issues.

Roughly 65 percent of all U.S. assistance in Uganda is devoted to these efforts. Funding is directed towards helping the people of Uganda with support through numerous partners – indigenous and international, including non-governmental partners, private sector, civil society, and Government of Uganda.

The global COVID-19 pandemic is temporarily changing the way we look at other health issues.  Please read the Uganda Ministry of Health COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for HIV Services Delivery.

 

Through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the U.S. Government works with partners to deliver prevention, care, treatment, and support services to Ugandans living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The U.S. Government collaborates with the Government of Uganda, national, international, and civil society organizations to build Uganda’s systems to lead the HIV/AIDS response, to include the integration of TB services. In 2020 Uganda is expected to reach HIV epidemic control – meaning, the point at which new HIV infections fall below the total number of deaths, of any cause, of HIV-infected individuals.  Uganda aims to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.

PEPFAR Highlights:

  • The U.S. Government has invested more than $4 billion in PEPFAR Uganda since 2004.
  • 90% of Ugandans living with HIV have been tested and diagnosed.
  • Over 1.2 million Ugandans are receiving lifelong ARV therapy. (FY 19 Q3)
  • More than 5.9 million Ugandans were tested for HIV in FY19.
  • 551,093 men were circumcised for HIV prevention last year.
  • The HIV positivity rate among exposed babies tested has decreased from 12 percent in 2010 to 2.8 percent in 2018.

Uganda is a focus country for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). The U.S. Government’s goal is to work with the Government of Uganda and other partners to reduce malaria deaths and decrease malaria morbidity, toward the long-term goal of elimination. PMI supports Uganda’s National Malaria Control program in four key interventions: indoor residual spraying; insecticide-treated nets; intermittent prevention of malaria in pregnancy; and diagnosis and treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapy.

Highlights:

  • In 2014, the U.S. contributed to the Universal Coverage Campaign, the largest bed net coverage campaign in the world, which distributed 22 million nets across Uganda.
  • The U.S. Government has protected 3.7 million Ugandans through Indoor Residual Spraying.
  • Since PMI activities started in Uganda, all-cause mortality in children under five has decreased by 41 percent.

The U.S. Government invests in strengthening health systems to provide Ugandans with access to needed care and services. U.S. assistance areas include human resources for health, supply chain management, laboratory capacity, blood safety, information systems, and governance.

Uganda has been a hot spot for multiple disease outbreaks in the last decade – including pathogenic arboviruses such as West Nile virus, yellow fever, dengue fever, and Chikungunya – and viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, Marburg, Crimean-Congo and Rift Valley fever.

The U.S. Government works to strengthen Uganda’s readiness for emerging health threats through identifying risk factors, developing public health interventions, building local staff capacity, and strengthening laboratories and reporting systems.

Highlights:

  • CDC-supported “Disease Detectives,” members of the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program – Field Epidemiology Track, have successfully responded epidemiologically to dozens of outbreaks in Uganda and are paving the way for Uganda’s Global Health Security Agenda.
  • U.S. Government-funded laboratories at the Uganda Virus Research Institute comprise the National Reference Laboratories for diagnosing Avian influenza and a dozen arboviruses, including Yellow Fever.

The U.S. Government is focused on helping to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goal of good health and well-being for all ages by supporting programs to reduce maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity and the unmet need for family planning.

Initiatives include: immunization voluntary family planning, safe delivery services, improved antenatal care, and treating HIV-positive mothers and children.

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