ECDC publishes progress report on continuum of HIV care in 2020

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has published a progress report on the continuum of HIV care in Europe and Central Asia in 2020, one in a series of thematic reports monitoring implementation of the Dublin Declaration on partnership to fight HIV and AIDS.

In 2020, 40 out of 55 countries in Europe and Central Asia provided the latest available data on all four stages on the continuum of HIV care, compared to 34 countries in 2018. A total of 45 countries were able to provide data for at least two consecutive stages on the continuum of HIV care, compared to 42 in 2018.

The UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets were established in 2014, with the aim that, by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV (PLHIV) would be diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed would be receiving treatment, and 90% of those receiving treatment would achieve viral suppression, translating to a target of 73% viral suppression among all PLHIV. Using data from countries able to provide at least two consecutive stages of the continuum, the overall performance of the European and Central Asian region against the UNAIDS targets in 2020 is:

• 82% of all PLHIV have received a diagnosed
• 67% of those diagnosed with HIV are receiving treatment
• 90% of those on treatment are virally suppressed

The ECDC report that more progress is needed to meet the substantive target of 73% of all PLHIV being virally suppressed, with performance for the overall region at 50%, based on the countries that submitted data for all four stages of the continuum.

Based on information from the 34 countries that reported all four stages of the continuum in both 2018 and 2020, there has been some progress towards meeting the global substantive targets. Overall, for these countries, 82% of all PLHIV were diagnosed, 55% of all PLHIV were on treatment, and 49% of all PLHIV were virally suppressed in 2020. This compares to 80%, 51% and 43% respectively in 2018.

Source: ECDC, 16 August 2021