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HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed 36.3 million [27.2–47.8 million] lives so far.

There is no cure for HIV infection. However, with increasing access to effective HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, including for opportunistic infections, HIV infection has become a manageable chronic health condition, enabling people living with HIV to lead long and healthy lives.

There were an estimated 37.7 million [30.2–45.1 million] people living with HIV at the end of 2020, over two thirds of whom (25.4 million) are in the WHO African Region.

In 2020, 680 000 [480 000–1.0 million] people died from HIV-related causes and 1.5 million [1.0–2.0 million] people acquired HIV.

To reach the new proposed global 95–95–95 targets set by UNAIDS, we will need to redouble our efforts to avoid the worst-case scenario of a half million excess HIV-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, increasing HIV infections due to HIV service disruptions during COVID-19, and the slowing public health response

Risk factors⚠️

Behaviours and conditions that put individuals at greater risk of contracting HIV include:

having unprotected anal or vaginal sex;

having another sexually transmitted infection (STI) such as syphilis, herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and bacterial vaginosis;

sharing contaminated needles, syringes and other injecting equipment and drug solutions when injecting drugs;

receiving unsafe injections, blood transfusions and tissue transplantation, and medical procedures that involve unsterile cutting or piercing; and

experiencing accidental needle stick injuries, including among health workers

✨Prevention:

Individuals can reduce the risk of HIV infection by limiting exposure to risk factors. Key approaches for HIV prevention, which are often used in combination, include:

male and female condom use;

testing and counselling for HIV and STIs;

testing and counselling for linkages to tuberculosis (TB) care;

voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC);

use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for prevention;

harm reduction for people who inject and use drugs; and

elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIVUNICEF response

The Sixty-Ninth World Health Assembly endorsed the “Global health sector strategy on HIV for 2016–2021”. The strategy includes five strategic directions that guide priority actions by countries and by WHO over six years.

The strategic directions are:

Information for focused action (know your epidemic and response)

Interventions for impact (covering the range of services needed)

Delivering for equity (covering the populations in need of services)

Financing for sustainability (covering the costs of services)

Innovation for acceleration (looking towards the future).

WHO is a cosponsor of the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS). Within UNAIDS, WHO leads activities on HIV treatment and care, and HIV and TB coinfection, and jointly coordinates the work on elimination of MTCT of HIV with UNICEF.