Mildmay Uganda
Our first international programme in the 1990s, and today our primary partner in East Africa.
Mildmay Uganda has been at the heart of HIV care since it first opened its doors in Kampala in 1998, as a pioneering centre for prevention, treatment and training.
Today it operates as the Mildmay Uganda Group: an independent, not-for-profit organisation governed by its own Board of Trustees, working across 16 districts in central Uganda through four linked arms — Mildmay Hospital for clinical care, the Mildmay Institute of Health Sciences for accredited healthcare training, the Mildmay Research Center, and community-facing NGO Operations. It partners with Uganda's Ministry of Health and international agencies including PEPFAR and CDC.
From the outset, the hospital played a vital role in providing life-saving antiretroviral therapy, especially for children, through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). By the end of 2024, the hospital had supported more than 100,000 clients - around 13% of all people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Uganda, including 8,000 children.
Across the wider Mildmay Uganda Group, this work has reached over 10 million beneficiaries since 1998, including more than 2 million children and adolescents, over 100,000 people living with HIV, and more than 40,000 health workers trained.
Most clients receive care as outpatients, but the hospital also includes Elizabeth Ward, the 33-bed capacity children's ward (now operating as a general ward), which has traditionally provided specialist care for critically and terminally ill children aged 0–18 years.
Mildmay Uganda's impact
911,000
Estimated disability-adjusted life years averted this year (a standard measure of disease burden avoided. The higher the number, the greater the health benefit delivered).
99%
of the patients remained in care, demonstrating exceptional adherence.
97%
of patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) achieved viral load suppression.
2%
rate at which mother-to-child HIV transmission was maintained, well below the national target of 5%.
4,890
Individuals received social-economic resilience services.
(In 2024)
How we work together
Our partnership today
Mildmay Uganda remains our primary partner in East Africa. Everything below is delivered directly with their teams.
Established in 2002 as the Child Sponsorship Programme, the Universal Fund shifted in 2017 to a model that shares healthcare, education and food security benefits equitably among vulnerable children and young people in Mildmay Uganda's care, regardless of individual sponsorship status. Over 2,000 children and adolescents supported since 2002.
UK trainee GPs and clinicians undertake supervised placements at Mildmay Uganda Hospital, gaining resource-limited clinical experience that strengthens their practice and, in turn, the NHS.
Small, low-cost projects identified by Mildmay Uganda and frontline partners, rapidly funded and delivered to close practical gaps in care.
Elizabeth Ward
Named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, who unveiled its plaque during her visit in 2007, Elizabeth Ward was for many years the only facility in the region dedicated to children with complex HIV-related conditions. Following major cuts to international funding, including the withdrawal of USAID support, it now operates as a general ward.
Children are still cared for there, many from families with very little, and treated for conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis, meningitis and malaria. But with aid budgets shrinking, keeping the hospital’s wards staffed, equipped and open is increasingly difficult.
A gift to our Uganda Fund helps Mildmay Uganda Hospital keep caring for the children, young people and families who rely on it.
The History of Mildmay Uganda
The seed of Mildmay’s international work was planted in 1993 following an invitation from the Government of Uganda.
The Medical Director of Mildmay at the time, Dr Veronica Moss said: 'I was attending a conference on paediatric AIDS in Edinburgh, Scotland, in September 1993 when I met the Hon Manuel Pinto, MP for Rakai District, Uganda, and he said to me, "We must talk – I want Mildmay to come to Uganda.”'
Mildmay Uganda's hospital officially opened near Kampala in September 1998, at a time when an estimated 500,000 Ugandans had already died of AIDS-related causes and a further two million, one in six of the population, were living with HIV. The hospital was opened by Anne, The Princess Royal, standing in after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, who had been scheduled to open it herself.
HRH The Princess Royal with Mildmay CEO Ruth Sims
The Queen Visits Mildmay Uganda
This was indicative of how significant the work done by Mildmay in Uganda had become.
In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II visited Mildmay Uganda and its paediatric care centre, unveiling a plaque for the hospital's new Elizabeth Ward, named in her honour. She told those gathered: "Thank you Mildmay Uganda for the work and the remarkable example set in the provision of care and education for people living with HIV."
The following year, Uganda's President, His Excellency Yoweri Museveni, marked Mildmay Uganda's 10th anniversary with a visit to unveil the foundation stone of the centre's new laboratory.
The Queen later praised Mildmay's work in an address to the Ugandan Parliament, in which she declared:
It is difficult sometimes, when the sorrow associated with this disease (HIV/AIDS) is so profound, to avoid a sense of despair. And yet there are growing numbers of people and organisations whose work gives cause for real hope.
Today I visited The Mildmay centre, which sets a remarkable example in the provision of care and relief for those who are ill as well as in educating people about how to protect themselves and their families.
The role of centres such as this, which the Government of Uganda has done so much to encourage, will be central to achieving our common aim of controlling this cruel disease."
Queen Elizabeth ll
Support Mildmay Uganda Hospital
Mildmay Uganda Hospital is an independent, locally registered NGO managed by its own Board of Trustees. While it raises funds and builds partnerships within Uganda, recent cuts to international aid have made running the hospital increasingly challenging.
Support from Mildmay’s UK donors is now more vital than ever. Your generosity helps ensure that Mildmay Uganda can continue delivering life-saving care to those who need it most.
The Uganda Fund supports Mildmay Uganda’s work wherever it’s most needed; the Universal Fund specifically supports children and young people.
Mildmay UK raises funds to support our Ugandan partner, so it can sustain and grow its essential work.
