Uganda has made substantial progress in reducing HIV infections among young women, but the gains against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are increasingly vulnerable to disruptions in international health financing, according to the 2026 Results Report. The report, released this week, says countries supported by the Global Fund faced a difficult 2025 as sharp cuts in international financing, conflict, displacement and other shocks put pressure on health programmes.
The report is important for Uganda because it combines evidence of progress with a warning that the financing environment has become much more fragile. Uganda is among the countries that have recorded significant gains. The report shows that new HIV infections among Ugandan women aged 15 to 24 fell by 76 percent between 2010 and 2025.
However, an estimated 10,030 new HIV infections were recorded among women in this age group in 2025, underlining the continuing challenge of preventing new infections among young women and girls. The figure is part of a wider assessment covering 12 countries identified by the Global Fund as priority countries for reducing HIV infections among young women.
The Global Fund says the reduction across the 12 countries averaged 75 percent over the same period. Despite the progress, the report warns that the global HIV response entered a period of uncertainty in 2025 as funding disruptions affected prevention programmes, community-led services and outreach in a number of countries.
The Global Fund says some countries had to scale back testing and prevention services, increasing the risks for populations that already face barriers to healthcare. The organization says countries responded by protecting essential treatment services and redirecting resources towards interventions considered most critical. Globally, 26.9 million people were receiving antiretroviral treatment in countries where the Global Fund invests in 2025.
The report says 80 percent of people living with HIV in the Global Fund portfolio were receiving antiretroviral therapy, compared with 22 percent in 2010. Since its establishment in 2002, the Global Fund says programmes supported by its partnership have saved 72 million lives. But the organisation warns that the progress cannot be assumed to continue without sustained financing.
“Progress can never be taken for granted,” the report says, warning that sustaining and accelerating gains against HIV, TB and malaria will require continued investment, innovation and collective action.
The warning has particular significance for Uganda, where the Global Fund has been a major source of financing for programmes against the three diseases.
The Global Fund’s Uganda Data Explorer shows cumulative disbursements of about 2.7 billion US dollars to the country, while total grant budgets stand at about 1.9 billion dollars.
The latest financial data also shows that Global Fund-supported programmes in Uganda include HIV, malaria and tuberculosis interventions.
The funding comes at a time when the Global Fund itself says the international financing environment has become increasingly constrained.
The organisation says it provides 28 percent of international financing for HIV programmes and 80 percent of international financing for tuberculosis programmes.
In February, the Global Fund Board approved 10.78 billion dollars for country allocations for the 2026–2028 implementation period following its eighth replenishment.
The final replenishment raised 12.64 billion dollars, below the 18 billion dollars the Global Fund had sought in its investment case.
The organisation says the reduced resource environment has prompted a strategic shift towards countries with the highest disease burdens and poorest populations while encouraging countries to increase domestic financing and move towards greater self-reliance.
For Uganda, the question is how far domestic resources can cushion programmes against external financing shocks.
The Global Fund report says that although countries and partners protected many essential services in 2025, the disruptions exposed the fragility of progress against the three diseases. Globally, the Global Fund says 7.4 million people received TB treatment in 2025, while 196 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were distributed in countries where it invests.
Yet it says funding disruptions, drug and insecticide resistance, conflict, displacement and climate-related shocks put additional pressure on malaria programmes. The report says many countries experienced stock-outs of essential medicines and delays to interventions such as vector control and seasonal malaria prevention.
According to the report, Uganda made measurable progress in disease control, but growing questions about whether the financing needed to sustain those gains will remain available.
The Global Fund says the answer will depend increasingly on countries strengthening their own health systems and financing while maintaining international partnerships. The organization’s latest report comes as Uganda also continues to benefit from Global Fund support for health emergencies.
In July, the Global Fund announced 1.8 million dollars in additional support for Uganda’s Ebola response, including diagnostic tools, surveillance, case management and infection-prevention supplies. The Global Fund says its existing grants also helped Uganda maintain essential HIV, TB and malaria services during the Ebola outbreak.
The challenge now is to prevent the financing shocks experienced in 2025 from undermining the gains made over more than two decades. The Global Fund says its partnership has helped reduce AIDS-related deaths by 77 percent and new HIV infections by 64 percent since 2002 in countries where it invests.
But it warns that without continued investment, innovation and country leadership, progress against the three diseases could be reversed. The Global Fund recently approved US$1.8 million for Uganda’s Ebola response, supporting diagnostics, surveillance, case management, rapid-response teams and infection-prevention supplies.
The findings from the report suggest a similar pattern across recent analyses of the global HIV response, including the recent UNAIDS report and latest PEPFAR data. HIV treatment programs have so far proved relatively resilient to the funding pitfalls, while HIV prevention has been much more severely disrupted-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
