One of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals is to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Still, 2 094 AIDS cases were reported in the EU/EEA during 2019. This shows a significant problem with late diagnosis of HIV infection. Detecting HIV only years after the infection is one reason for on-going transmission in Europe. One in every four AIDS cases occurred long after HIV diagnosis, indicating insufficient linkage to HIV care, access to antiretroviral treatment and adherence support.
This report is the latest in a series published jointly by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe that has been summarizing data on HIV and AIDS in the WHO European Region and in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) since 2007.
The number of people living with undiagnosed HIV is increasing in the WHO European Region. According to data published today by ECDC and the WHO/Europe, more than 136 000 people were newly diagnosed in 2019 – roughly 20% of these were diagnosed in the EU/EAA and 80% in the eastern part of the European Region. Every second HIV diagnosis (53%) happens at a late stage of the infection, when the immune system has already started to fail. This is a sign that testing strategies in the Region are not working properly to diagnose HIV early.
Shigellosis is a relatively uncommon disease in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA), but remains of concern in some countries and for some population groups. For 2017, 30 EU/EEA countries reported 6 337 confirmed shigellosis cases.
For 2018, EU/EEA countries reported 13 travel-related cases of yellow fever. The cases were reported by France (7), Germany (2), Czechia (1), the Netherlands (1), Romania (1) and the United Kingdom(1). The case reported by the Netherlands acquired the infection in Senegal or Gambia. All other cases acquired the infection in Brazil. This was the highest number of yellow fever cases ever reported in the EU/EEA in one year. In the previous four years, only one case was reported: the Netherlands reported an imported case with a travel history to Suriname.
Depending on the level of evidence provided and the methodology used, this advice is typically conveyed through a Guidance, a Systematic review or an Expert opinion.
HIV combination prevention is an approach that brings together single prevention initiatives into a comprehensive programme. This approach considers that the offer of multiple evidence-based interventions in a comprehensive programme will have a greater impact on HIV transmission than investing in a single strategy. In this report we
present and test the feasibility of a novel approach to monitoring the implementation of combination HIV prevention at national level.