Eastern countries account for 82% of new HIV cases in Europe

The report, written by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe, notes that in the 15 countries of the Eastern Region, 130 861 new cases have been identified, with the highest rates being observed in Russia. Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.

On the contrary, the western region, which includes Portugal, the European Union and the countries of the European Economic Area, recorded a decline in rates of new diagnoses, mainly due to a reduction in 20% since 2015 between men who have sex with men.

In Portugal, data collected by the National Institute of Health, Dr. Ricardo Jorge, indicate a reduction of less than half the number of new HIV diagnoses recorded in the last decade, or 2,238 cases, that is, a rate of 21.2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2008 to 1,068 cases, or 10.3 per 100,000 inhabitants by 2017.

According to the WHO report published a few days before the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day, among the new HIV diagnoses among the Portuguese in 2017, 768, or 72%, were men, compared with only 300 cases of women. December 1st.

The study indicates that heterosexual transmission accounted for 57% of new diagnoses in 2017 in Portugal, followed by transmission among men who have sex with men, or 37% of new diagnoses of last year .

On the other hand, transmission attributable to injecting drug use decreased by 95% in ten years, from 370 new HIV cases in 2007 to only 18 in 2016, a success attributed to HIV prevention, detection and treatment programs. HIV for drug users.

For Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe, "it's hard to talk about good news in the face of a new year of incredibly high numbers of people infected with HIV."

She does not think that it is possible to reach the goal of 90-90-90 by 2020, that is, to diagnose 90% of all people living with HIV, providing antiretroviral therapy to 90% of people diagnosed and achieving viral suppression in 90% of cases. % of people treated.

The strategy for the future, he said, must be to adapt interventions by investing "wisely in prevention, screening and treatment, especially in key populations".