Who Does HIV Effect?

Which populations are at a greater risk?

Per UNAIDS, the homosexual/bisexual male population of different race/ethnicities, transgender population, African Americans, Latino/Hispanic population, and injection drug users (IDU) were some of the groups most at risk to contract HIV.

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From a global perspective, 62% of the emerging HIV cases originated from these population groups. Specifically, statistics show at a collectively global scale (explained by UNAIDS) that the gay and bisexual male population were 26 times more at risk to contract HIV as well as IDU (29 times higher), sex industry workers (30 times higher), and the transgender population (13 times higher).

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Are there goals set in place to prevent these risked key populations?

The UNAIDS has goals for at least 90% of the population living with HIV to be medically diagnosed and aware of the prognosis of the condition. Their goals also include for 90% of people with HIV to receive the proper antiretroviral treatments as well as 90% of that population to reach viral suppression where HIV is barely or not detected at all in the blood.

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People living with HIV Globally

There has been a progressive decrease in the number of new cases of HIV each year. For example, in the year 1998, there were 2.8 million new cases of HIV in comparison to 2019 where there were 1.7 million cases. However, despite the UNAIDS attempts, they have not reached their goal of >500,000 new HIV cases each year. In the year 2019, there were approximately 38.0 million people with HIV and from that population, there were approximately 36.2 million adults and 1.8 million children (ages 0-14) infected with HIV. Approximately 7.1 million people living with HIV that year, were unaware of their condition and had not been diagnosed. 

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Since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic (around the end of 2019), approximately 75.7 million new persons have tested positive for HIV and 32.7 million passed away due to AIDS-related issues.

New HIV infection

Emerging HIV cases have decreased by approximately 40% after its peak in 1998. However, from a global perspective, there has been in increase in HIV infections in the following regions since the year 2010: Eastern Europe and Central Asia (72% increase in infections), Middle East and North Africa (22% increase), and Latin America (21% increase).

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AIDS-related deaths

Death rates from causes related to HIV/AIDS have decreased by 60% since the year 2004. Globally, there were 690,000 deaths related to HIV/AIDS.

Women

According to UNAIDS, approximately 5,500 women between the ages of 15-24 are infected with HIV per week. In one of the regions most impacted with HIV, Sub-Saharan Africa, women between that same age range are twice more likely to contract HIV than men. In the year 2019, approximately 19.2 million women had been diagnosed with HIV.  During this year, the female population accounted for approximately 48% of the emerging HIV cases globally.

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UNAIDS reported that women who experience forms of violence such as rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, etc are 50% more at risk for HIV compared to a woman who has not gone through a form of violence.

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HIV in Children

In the year 2019, approximately 1.8 million children (<15 years of age) were living with HIV. In this same year, approximately 950,000 of those children were on an antiretroviral treatment. In the year 2019, 95,000 deaths related to HIV/AIDS were reported within the same children population.

Has the 90-90-90 goal been met? What is the next step for eradicating the global HIV epidemic?

Currently, the 90-90-90 goal has not been met and currently has the goal to be fulfilled by the year 2030. Although many measures have been taken in the prevention and treatment of HIV, there are still higher than expected number of cases in certain regions of the world. A U.N. meeting is scheduled to take place in June 2021 in order to assess the next steps and measures needed to be taken in order to achieve the eradication of the HIV epidemic.