New Annual HIV Infections Still Above the One-Million Mark

In 2023, around 1.3 million people were newly infected with HIV and 600,000 died as a result of AIDS. However, this is still far below the numbers at the height of the epidemic in the 1990s, where UNAIDS estimates showed up to three million new infections per year. In the 2000s, up to 1.9 million people died each year in connection with AIDS. Most recently, the coronavirus has made it more difficult to combat the HIV epidemic that has been with us since the 1980s.

Around 39.9 million people worldwide are currently living with an HIV infection, including around 1.4 million children under the age of 15. In December 2023, an estimated 30.7 million people had access to antiretroviral therapy - the UN organization's target is 34 million by 2025. Ongoing financial support is needed to achieve this goal. However, funding for the fight against HIV fell by five percent between 2022 and 2023 and by around eight percent between 2020 and 2023.