On 15th May 2022, Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the Candle Light Commemoration (CLM) event where Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) mobilized partners at national and subnational level to commemorate the day. Candle Light Memorial is an International Day that is commemorated annually on the 3rd Sunday of May to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.

This is a report of a Legal Environment Assessment (LEA) for HIV & AIDS in Uganda, conducted by the USAID/Uganda Civil Society Strengthening Activity (CSSA). Uganda is widely credited for its success in reducing the adult HIV prevalence from 18% in 1992 to 6.2% in 2016 and 5.5% in 20201. Yet HIV continues to pose a significant health and developmental threat to the country, with high rates of prevalence among particular groups such as adolescent girls and young women, key, and priority populations, and less than optimal enrolment of people living with HIV (PHLIV) into care and treatment. While the Government of Uganda is committed to the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, there is also increasing recognition that this goal cannot be achieved unless the country addresses structural barriers such as legal impediments, and issues such as human rights, stigma, discrimination, gender inequality and gender-based violence.

Uganda’s HIV and AIDS response continues to receive significant support from international development partners, with over 83% of the total HIV and AIDS spending in the country coming from international development partners. Other development partners are indirectly contributing to the HIV and AIDS response by supporting a wide range of underlying development programmes such as poverty alleviation, social protection, human rights and food security, among others. Therefore, the role of development partners is critical because they directly and indirectly help the country overcome obstacles to fighting the epidemic