Unregulated sexual activity, social media threaten Uganda’s 2030 HIV fight

Uganda’s ambition to end HIV or AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 could be undermined by unregulated sexual activity in massage parlours and growing exposure to risky behaviour on social media, health experts have warned.
 
The stakeholders called for stronger regulations, expanded HIV prevention services and greater psychosocial support for adolescents and young people, saying the country risks losing ground despite advances in HIV prevention and treatment.
 
According to the Uganda AIDS Commission, about 1.5 million people were living with HIV in Uganda as of 2024, with approximately 37,000 new HIV infections and 20,000 AIDS-related deaths.
 
Speaking to this publication, Dr Anthony Ruhangayebare, the Medical Head at St Francis Health Care Services, Njeru, called on the government to strengthen strict regulations on reported sexual activity in massage parlours, spas and lodges, proposing strengthened contact tracing and supply of protective equipment.
 
He also urged the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to tighten restrictions on social media, citing that without interventions, Uganda’s blueprint ambition of fighting HIV risks remaining at a crossroads.
 
“You find people on TikTok who are publicly selling themselves, and people are actually buying; we need strict regulations to protect this generation,” he emphasised.
 
Dr Ruhangayebare also urged the government to intensify the prevention measures, including the fight against mother-to-child transmission, adequate supply of medication, and a focus on mental health to help many battling depression.
 
In the same regard, the Head of Programs at St Francis Health Care Services, Mr Paul Mwanje, asked the government to expedite efforts in supplying preventive medical equipment like condoms and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in the hard-to-reach areas to combat the spread and improve adherence.
 
“Many rural areas don’t get this medical equipment; not all the supply reaches them. There also lies the challenge of mindset and knowledge gap for the equipment usage,” he said.
 
Mr Mwanje further recommended the need to integrate psychosocial support into HIV services for adolescents and young adults.
 
Govt rolls out guidelines on patients’ protection
 
In her remarks during the Eastern and Central Regional Adolescent and Young People Living with HIV (A/YPLHIV) Symposium on Friday, Ms Mary Namuyomba, the Eastern and Central Zonal Coordinator of the Uganda AIDS Commission, said that despite the reduction in HIV prevalence from 4.9 percent in 2025 to 4.7 percent in 2026, the government and Ugandans still have a long journey to minimise the spread of the disease.
 
Ms Namuyomba called for the continued HIV/AIDs prevention mechanisms, warning that many Ugandans seem to be relaxing with protective measures following the rollout of the lenacapavir vaccines and the oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
 
Uganda on February 24 received the first consignment of 19,200 Lenacapavir doses, distributed to high-burden and high-incidence districts to curb new HIV infections.
 
“People have relaxed when they hear that there is lenacapavir and PrEP. When we look at the young people, the risk is becoming too much,” she said.
 
“We are getting hurt, because you find that out of 5000 positive adolescents, you find about 4500 girls, only 500 boys; this implies that these young girls go with older men, and men think the young girls are not positive,” she added.
 
She announced that the government is set to roll out new industry-based guidelines that aim to target all employment sectors, mandating organisations to take care of HIV-positive individuals and to limit discrimination in workplaces.
 
The recent KCCA findings on HIV indicate that at least 211 people in Kampala contracted HIV every week over the past 12 months, translating to 844 cases per month and 11,241 annually.
 
The findings indicated that HIV cases were fueled by unregulated sexual activity in massage parlours, spas and lodges, domestic violence, and social media-influenced exposure.
 
The symposium called for the need to strengthen collaborative platforms that empower adolescents and young people living with HIV towards an HIV-free future.
 
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