Fewer people worldwide are getting HIV — so why are rates going up in Canada? – CBC

There were 2,434 new diagnosed cases of HIV in Canada in 2023, a 35% increase from the year before

Dec 01, 2024

Fewer people are being diagnosed with and dying of HIV/AIDS around the world. But progress is uneven, and only a few countries are on track to meet global targets set by the United Nations to end HIV as a public health threat by 2030, suggests a new study from The Lancet HIV medical journal.

Between 2010 and 2021, new HIV infections decreased globally by almost 22 per cent, a decline largely driven by the progress in sub-Saharan Africa. But in Canada, the opposite is happening. In 2023, there were 2,434 new diagnoses of HIV here: a 35 per cent increase compared to the year before. The number of new cases had been on the decline between 2016 and 2020. Despite the increase in infections, fewer people are dying of HIV in Canada.

Globally, HIV-related deaths have also declined between 2010 and 2021 by almost 40 per cent, say the authors of the Lancet report, noting that’s thanks to antiretroviral treatment — usually a combination of drugs that stop the virus from reproducing. Most people who take the medications daily for a few months have so little virus in their blood it doesn’t show up in tests and can’t be transmitted to others.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/hiv-infection-rates-canada-1.7397342