HIV/AIDS

Globally, as few as 37 million and as many as almost 44 million people are living with HIV/AIDS today.¹ In 2017, 21.7 million people were receiving antiretroviral treatment.² On the African continent, one in every four adults has HIV, making up two third of the world’s HIV infected population.³ In 2017 alone, nearly 2 million people were infected with HIV and 940,000 people died of HIV/AIDS.⁴ It is estimated that 25 percent, over 9 million, of those who have HIV/AIDS are not aware they have the virus.⁵ The populations most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS are those who are incarcerated, men who have sex with men, those who are transgender, men and women in the commercial sex industry and those who use intravenous drugs.⁶ Since 1996, the rate of HIV infections has slowed by 47 percent, from 3.8 million new infections in 1996 to 1.8 million in 2017. Nearly half of people living with HIV are virally suppressed, meaning that the virus has been stabilized, however, there is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS.⁷