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There are approximately 940,000 people living with HIV in Uganda, 130,000 of whom are children. Adult HIV prevalence is estimated at 5.4% and more than half of the people living with HIV in the country are women. Despite the availability of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, only 50% of pregnant women are currently receiving this critical intervention, leaving an estimated 40,000 women at risk of transmitting the virus to their infants. And while antiretroviral therapy (ART) has become more widely available in recent years, an estimated 42,000 children in Uganda are still without access to these lifesaving medicines.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (the Foundation) began working in Uganda in 2000. Since that time, the Foundation’s work has primarily focused on the provision of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) services, which the Foundation has rolled out to over 400 Ministry of Health (MOH) sites in 27 districts of the countr). As a result of these efforts, PMTCT services are now being offered at all levels of Ugandan health facilities—from hospitals providing complex medical care to primary care centers staffed by one nurse. This roll-out effort was guided by the principle that in order to reach those most in need, services must be brought to the facilities that the majority of individuals are most likely to access.