New numbers are giving us hope in the fight against HIV/AIDS. What do you think the reason is? Do you agree with the one given?
San Francisco has made significant progress in the fight against HIV as new statistics show that the rate of HIV infections have dropped by more than a third in the city.
NewNowNext reports that the new statistics were published on September 1 in the HIV Epidemiology Annual Report and they reveal that the number of people infected with HIV have dropped by 34% in the last three years.
Back in 2013, around 285 new infections were recorded in the city ad this year, there have only been 99 recorded infections.
The drop in infections has been attributed to the preventive medicine PrEP.
Barbra Garcia, the director of health at the San Francisco Department of Public Health said:
“The overall picture is very good, with San Francisco heading toward zero on every HIV measure.
Despite the progress, Barbra states that some groups, such as African-Americans and Latinos, are not seeing a decline in infection.
Barbra adds, “Without improvements for these populations, we as a city will not reach zero.” – attitude.co.uk
The three year decline in numbers does somewhat align with the approval of PrEP, July 16, 2012.
In scanning the report for pre-exposure prophylaxis, it seemed it was only mentioned once in the report, and that was in the same paragraph where it was said infection rates peaked in 1992.
The number of San Francisco residents diagnosed with advanced HIV infection (stage 3 or AIDS) reached a peak of 2,329 in 1992 and has declined in all subsequent years (Figure 1.1). Beginning in 1995, the number of deaths among people living with stage 3 diagnosis has decreased dramatically due to effective combination antiretroviral therapies (ART). From 1999 the number of new stage 3 diagnoses and the number of deaths have continued to decline but at a slower rate than from 1995 to 1998. Beginning in 2013, the number of deaths among people with stage 3 diagnosis has exceeded the number of new stage 3 diagnoses which may reflect the impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis, behavioral interventions to prevent HIV transmission, and use of ART that both reduces the risk of HIV transmission and disease progression among those infected. The result of declining deaths is the continued increase in the number of San Franciscans living with stage 3 HIV infection rose from 1980 through 2012 and then modestly declined. By the end of 2015, there were 9,454 San Francisco residents living with stage 3 HIV infection. – HIV Epidemiology Annual Report.
Do you feel PrEP is the reason for the decline?
Do you think the decline is due to a number of things?
For more information, click on the graphs below for a larger view.
h/t: attitude.co.uk