Marked inequalities and diverse epidemic trends affect progress in the HIV response in Asia and the Pacific. The HIV epidemic in the region disproportionately affects people from key populations, especially young people (aged 15–24 years), and their sexual partners. Download the regional factsheet to find out the most up-to-date HIV info, data and analysis.
Drug use continues to be high worldwide. In 2021, 1 in every 17 people aged 15–64 in the world had used a drug in the past 12 months. The estimated number of users grew from 240 million in 2011 to 296 million in 2021 (5.8 per cent of the global population aged 15–64). This is a 23 per cent increase, partly due to population growth. Cannabis continues to be the most used drug, with an estimated 219 million users (4.3 per cent of the global adult population) in 2021.
UNAIDS new Global AIDS Update report shows 29.8 million of the 39 million [33.1 million–45.7 million] people living with HIV globally are receiving life-saving treatment. An additional 1.6 million people received HIV treatment in each of 2020, 2021 and 2022.
In this guideline, WHO recommends that long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA) may be offered as an additional HIV prevention option for people at substantial risk of HIV infection. CAB-LA is an injectable form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) that has been shown to be highly effective at reducing the risk of HIV acquisition.
This new Road Map charts a way forward for country-level actions to achieve an ambitious set of HIV prevention targets by 2025. Those targets emerged from the 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, which the United Nations General Assembly adopted in June 2021 and they are underpinned by the Global AIDS Strategy (2021–2026). The Strategy sets out the principles, approaches, priority action area and programmatic targets for the global HIV response.
In this guideline, WHO recommends that long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA) may be offered as an additional HIV prevention option for people at substantial risk of HIV infection. CAB-LA is an injectable form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) that has been shown to be highly effective at reducing the risk of HIV acquisition.
The Consolidated guidelines on HIV, viral hepatitis and STI prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations outline a public health response for 5 key populations (men who have sex with men, trans and gender diverse people, sex workers, people who inject drugs and people in prisons and other closed settings). They present and discuss new recommendations and consolidate a range of recommendations and guidance from current WHO guidelines.
These guidelines focus on the collection and use of person-centred data across the HIV cascade – from prevention, testing and treatment to longer-term health care – building upon 2017 and 2020 strategic information guidelines. The updated guidelines present a standard minimum dataset, priority indicators and recommendations to strengthen data use across HIV prevention, testing and treatment, and linkages to services for sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis and cervical cancer.
