I hope you’re PrEPared
Amazing breakthroughs in HIV/AIDS prevention
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, has been ravaging society since the 1980s, along with the condition it causes, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (or AIDS)
While HIV was first identified in the United States in 1981, it’s believed that HIV first crossed over from animals to humans in the 1930s in Africa, and somewhere between 100,000–300,000 people living with the condition at the start of the 1980s. 35 million have died since the epidemic begin
But recent scientific breakthroughs have made life a lot better for the 39 million people still living with the condition, plus a further 1.3 million people who contracted the condition last year
Which is why next week, PrEP Awareness Week in the UK, is so important
But first…
Who are the victims of AIDS?
The early years of AIDS epidemic in the 1980s were the most devastating, particularly for the LGBTQ+ community. The stories of the tragic losses that occurred in this community could be an article in itself, and there have been countless other communities in the decades since
The number of deaths steadily rose through the 1980s and reached 8.7 million deaths in the 1990s, peaking at 16.9 million deaths in the 2000s and falling back down to 10.8 million deaths in 2010s
However, some countries have suffered a lot more than others
The majority of AIDS-related deaths are now found in Africa, with the continent suffering 8.1 million casualties in the 2010s (3/4 of all AIDS-related deaths in this decade)
By 2019, 2.6 million people in Africa were living with HIV. While this is only 0.2% of the population (vs. 0.7% of the population globally), this is mostly because the mortality rate in Africa is so much higher than elsewhere in the world, due to a lack of access to treatment. People living in African also accounted for c. 1.3 million new infections, 2/3s of the global total
As with everything, those suffering are not evenly distributed. Within Africa, sub-Saharan countries make up the vast majority of new infections, people living with the virus and deaths
And globally, there are key communities and professions that are a lot more likely to be affected:
- 2.5% among sex workers
- 7.5% among gay men and other men who have sex with men
- 5.0% among people who inject drugs
- 10.3% among transgender persons
- 1.4% among people in prisons
What is PrEP and how effective has it been?
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (also known as PrEP) is a preventative medicine that was first approved in 2012. The World Health Organisation (WHO) started recommending oral PrEP in 2015
PrEP, normally taken as tablet, works by stopping HIV from getting into your body and replicating. You’ll then be protected from HIV if there are high enough levels of PrEP in the body at the time of infection
There is also another preventative medicine available, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which can be taken 72 hours after having sex with another individual with HIV to prevent it from infecting the individual
By 2021, PrEP had started being used in 78 countries, with roughly 1 million people put on a course of the medicine
It is still early days, but according to the NHS, PrEP is 99% effective against contracting HIV and so the rates of infection should start to fall over time
What else is being done to eradicate AIDS?
In 2022, $20.8 billion made was available for HIV programmes in low- and middle-income countries. While this might sound like a lot, there is still a 90% funding gap between this and what is needed by 2025
Alongside this, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the joint venture initiative of 11 UN organisations, set its 90–90–90 campaign in 2014, which set the goal of achieving the following by 2020:
- 90% of all people living with HIV to be diagnosed
- 90% of those diagnosed to receive HIV treatment
- 90% of those receiving treatment to achieve viral suppression
However, progress towards meeting these goals has been patchy
The UK in 2019, for example, had 94% of infected individuals diagnosed, 98% of those receiving treatment and 97% of those virally suppressed
And 5 African countries had gone one step further and reached a greater 95–95–95 target: Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe
But at the end of 2019, 81% of people globally who were living with HIV knew their HIV status, and more than two thirds (67%) were on antiretroviral therapy. While this last stat had tripled since 2010, it is still far below the target
The reason for this is because of the cost of treatment that helps to keep those with HIV alive
Once HIV-positive, Antiretroviral drugs are the main treatment available. While it doesn’t eradicate the condition, it allows the individual to live with the virus. 29.8 million people are currently taking these drugs worldwide, a big improvement on the 7.7 million people who were taking them in 2010
There isn’t currently a cure, but work is ongoing to find one. The first HIV vaccine efficacy trial was in 1999 and there have been at least 15 since. And with the success of mRNA vaccines in fighting Covid-19, there is hope that this new technology may spell the start of the end of the HIV epidemic
Check out more GoodStats about Health and Medicine:
- The NHS turns 75! A stat a day keeps the Doctor away
- Fighting the Fat! Are you dieting this year? Weigh to go!
- Don’t take a jab at Vaccines; Why not give them a shot?
Source: CNWL NHS; National AIDS Trust; The UN; NHS; Healthline; SFGMC; AIDS Map; Wikipedia; UN AIDS; NCBI;
