Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS pandemic
A world map illustrating the proportion of population infected with HIV in 2019
DiseaseHIV/AIDS
Virus strainHIV
SourceNon-human primates[1]
LocationWorldwide
First outbreakJune 5, 1981[2]
Date1981–present
(43 years and 5 months)
Confirmed cases71.3 million – 112.8 million (2023)[3]
Deaths
42.3 million total deaths (2023)[3]

The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue.[4][5][6] According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS had killed approximately 40.4 million people, and approximately 39 million people were infected with HIV globally.[4] Of these, 29.8 million people (75%) are receiving antiretroviral treatment.[4] There were about 630,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS in 2022.[4] The 2015 Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that the global incidence of HIV infection peaked in 1997 at 3.3 million per year. Global incidence fell rapidly from 1997 to 2005, to about 2.6 million per year.[7] Incidence of HIV has continued to fall, decreasing by 23% from 2010 to 2020, with progress dominated by decreases in Eastern Africa and Southern Africa.[8] As of 2023, there are about 1.3 million new infections of HIV per year globally.[9]

According to the WHO, the prevalence of HIV in the Africa Region was estimated at 1.1 million people as of 2018.[10] The African Region accounts for two thirds of the incidence of HIV around the world.[10] Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by HIV. As of 2020, more than two thirds of those living with HIV are living in Africa.[4] HIV rates have been decreasing in the region: From 2010 to 2020, new infections in eastern and southern Africa fell by 38%.[8] Still, South Africa has the largest population of people with HIV of any country in the world, at 8.45 million,[11] 13.9%[12] of the population as of 2022.

In western Europe and North America, most people with HIV are able to access treatment and live long and healthy lives.[13] As of 2020, 88% of people living with HIV in this region know their HIV status, and 67% have suppressed viral loads.[13] In 2019, approximately 1.2 million people in the United States had HIV; 13% did not realize that they were infected.[14] In Canada as of 2016, there were about 63,110 cases of HIV.[15][16] In 2020, 106,890 people were living with HIV in the UK and 614 died (99 of these from COVID-19 comorbidity).[17] In Australia, as of 2020, there were about 29,090 cases.[18]

Throughout the world, HIV disproportionately affects certain key populations (sex workers and their clients, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, and transgender people) and their sexual partners. These groups account for 65% of global HIV infections, and 93% of new infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa.[19] In Western Europe and North America, men who have sex with men account for almost two thirds of new HIV infections.[13] In Sub-Saharan Africa, 63% of new infections are women, with young women (aged 15 to 24 years) twice as likely as men of the same age to be living with HIV.[19]

HIV originated in nonhuman primates in Central Africa and jumped to humans several times in the late 19th or early 20th century.[20][21][22] One reconstruction of its genetic history suggests that HIV-1 group M, the strain most responsible for the global epidemic, may have originated in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, around 1920.[23][24] AIDS was first recognized in 1981, and in 1983 the HIV virus was discovered and identified as the cause of AIDS.[25][26][27]

  1. ^ Sharp PM, Hahn BH (September 2011). "Origins of HIV and the AIDS pandemic". Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine. 1 (1): a006841. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a006841. PMC 3234451. PMID 22229120.
  2. ^ "How I told the world about Aids". BBC News. 5 June 2006. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Global HIV & AIDS statistics — 2023 fact sheet". www.unaids.org. UNAIDS. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e "HIV/AIDS Factsheet". United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Why the HIV epidemic is not over". www.who.int. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  6. ^ Eisinger RW, Fauci AS (March 2018). "Ending the HIV/AIDS Pandemic1". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 24 (3): 413–416. doi:10.3201/eid2403.171797. PMC 5823353. PMID 29460740.
  7. ^ Wang, Haidong; et al. (August 2016). "Estimates of global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and mortality of HIV, 1980-2015: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". The Lancet. HIV. 3 (8): e361–e387. doi:10.1016/s2352-3018(16)30087-x. PMC 5056319. PMID 27470028.
  8. ^ a b "Foreword – AIDS 2020". UNAIDS. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  9. ^ "HIV and AIDS Epidemic Global Statistics". HIV.gov. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  10. ^ a b "HIV/AIDS". WHO | Regional Office for Africa. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  11. ^ P03022017.pdf
  12. ^ "HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  13. ^ a b c "Region profiles – AIDS 2020". UNAIDS. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Fast Facts". hiv.gov. 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  15. ^ "The Epidemiology of HIV in Canada". Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange. 2008. Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  16. ^ HIV and AIDS in Canada : surveillance report to December 31, 2009 (PDF). Ottawa: Public Health Agency of Canada, Centre for Communicable Diseases and Infection Control, Surveillance and Risk Assessment Division. 2010. ISBN 978-1-100-52141-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2012.
  17. ^ "HIV testing, new HIV diagnoses, outcomes and quality of care for people accessing HIV services: 2 December 2021 report" (PDF). UK Health Security Agency. 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  18. ^ "HIV in Australia". Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations. 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  19. ^ a b "Fact Sheet - WorldAidsDay 2021" (PDF). UNAIDS. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  20. ^ "About HIV/AIDS | HIV Basics | HIV/AIDS | CDC". www.cdc.gov. 1 June 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  21. ^ Sharp PM, Hahn BH (September 2011). "Origins of HIV and the AIDS pandemic". Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine. 1 (1): a006841. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a006841. PMC 3234451. PMID 22229120.
  22. ^ Faria NR, Rambaut A, Suchard MA, Baele G, Bedford T, Ward MJ, et al. (October 2014). "HIV epidemiology. The early spread and epidemic ignition of HIV-1 in human populations". Science. 346 (6205): 56–61. Bibcode:2014Sci...346...56F. doi:10.1126/science.1256739. PMC 4254776. PMID 25278604.
  23. ^ "HIV pandemic's origins located". University of Oxford. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  24. ^ Hardy WD (10 June 2019). Fundamentals of HIV Medicine 2019. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190942496.
  25. ^ "Global Report Fact Sheet" (PDF). UNAIDS. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2012.
  26. ^ Barré-Sinoussi F, Chermann JC, Rey F, Nugeyre MT, Chamaret S, Gruest J, et al. (May 1983). "Isolation of a T-lymphotropic retrovirus from a patient at risk for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)". Science. 220 (4599): 868–871. Bibcode:1983Sci...220..868B. doi:10.1126/science.6189183. PMID 6189183. S2CID 390173.
  27. ^ Gallo RC, Sarin PS, Gelmann EP, Robert-Guroff M, Richardson E, Kalyanaraman VS, et al. (May 1983). "Isolation of human T-cell leukemia virus in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)". Science. 220 (4599): 865–867. Bibcode:1983Sci...220..865G. doi:10.1126/science.6601823. PMID 6601823.