Spain has registered a decrease in new diagnoses of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the period 2013-2023, according to a report published by the Ministry of Health and the National Epidemiology Center of the Carlos III Health Institute.
Despite this, the data show a persistence of late diagnosis, especially in women and older peopleand almost half of those diagnosed in 2023 (3,196 in total) received it when the infection had already advanced “significantly.”
Transmissions through sex and in men
Of the total cases of the aforementioned year, 86.1% of them have been men, with an average age of 36 yearsand the predominant form of transmission continues to be sexual (80.7%), with the highest incidence among men who have sex with men (55%), of whom nearly half also receive a late diagnosis.
heterosexual relationships They also represent 25.7% of new cases, while injection drug use is 1.7%; By age, the group with the most diagnoses is those between 25 and 34 years old, with 33.5%, followed by those over 50 years old, (18.5%) and those between 15 and 24 years old (11 .5%).
Among those under 25 years of ages, late diagnosis accounts for 33.4% of cases, while in those over 50 years of age the figure rises to 61.5%. Furthermore, the heterosexual route is the one with the highest rates of late diagnosis, with 57.8% in men and 53.5% in women.
«Considering the data presented, it is essential to continue the implementation of the Strategic Plan for the prevention and control of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Spain in order to accelerate the reduction of the rate of new HIV diagnoses and late diagnosis of the infection,” reads a Health statement.
Differences by region of origin
The report also shows how 49.8% of the new cases correspond to people born outside of Spainof which 34.4% are from Latin America, of which women in turn represent 61.6% of these diagnoses.
In cases coming from Spain, Latin America and Western Europe It can be seen that transmission between men who have sex with men is predominant, while 57.9% of sub-Saharans acquired the disease through the heterosexual route. Spanish citizens are the majority in the different modes of transmission except maternal and child transmission.
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