Although HIV rates continue to decrease in Uganda, it is still significantly more prevalent among women than men. According to a 2016-17 national survey, 7.6% of women are living with HIV compared to 4.7% of men. This disparity is particularly alarming among 15-24 years old for whom the disease is four times higher in females than males.

The reasons behind this disparity are complex, but largely boil down to different forms of gender inequality. This includes the ongoing adherence to traditional male gender roles in which men are expected to be dominant. It is perhaps telling, for example, that young women in Uganda who have experienced domestic violence by a partner are 50% more likely to have acquired HIV than women who have not.

Robert Wyrod, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado and author of AIDS and Masculinity in the African City, explains that traditional relationship dynamics also contribute to these inequalities.

“There is a sense that younger women are drawn to relationships with older men who can provide support…and those older men are much more likely to be HIV positive,” he says. “It becomes a vicious cycle of economic inequality plus gender inequality”.

Wyrod continues that women can also remain at risk even once they are married. “Men’s persistent sexual privileges mean that they often have other partners in marriage, normally secretly,” he says. “If women confront their husbands it can be disastrous for them – they can face violence. And so that slightly older bracket of women are also vulnerable to infection.” Read more via African Arguments