Unaids.org – Global HIV, viral hepatitis epidemics and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to pose significant public health challenges, causing 2.5 million deaths each year, according to a new WHO report – Implementing the global health sector strategies on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, 2022–2030.
New data show that STIs are increasing in many regions. In 2022, WHO Member States set out an ambitious target of reducing the annual number of adult syphilis infections by ten-fold by 2030, from 7.1 million to 0.71 million.
Yet, new syphilis cases among adults aged 15-49 years increased by over 1 million in 2022 reaching 8 million. The highest increases occurred in the Region for the Americas and the African Region.
Combined with insufficient decline seen in the reduction of new HIV and viral hepatitis infections, the report flags threats to the attainment of the related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
“The rising incidence of syphilis raises major concerns”, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Fortunately, there has been important progress on a number of other fronts including in accelerating access to critical health commodities including diagnostics and treatment.
We have the tools required to end these epidemics as public health threats by 2030, but we now need to ensure that, in the context of an increasingly complex world, countries do all they can to achieve the ambitious targets they set themselves”.
Ranking of countries with the highest prevalence of HIV in 2000 and 2023*
These dynamics are reflected in the 10 U.S. states with the highest HIV prevalence rates, most of which are in the South.
In the United States, the primary mode of HIV transmission is sex. It can come as no surprise, therefore, that the rates of new infection are highest among younger populations that are not only more sexually active but also more likely to have STDs, multiple sex partners, and other risk factors.
According to the CDC, the rate of new infections in 2022 was highest among people 20 to 34, declining steadily thereafter.6
| Age Group | New Infections, 2022 |
|---|---|
| 15–19 | 1,350 |
| 20–24 | 5,677 |
| 25–29 | 7,190 |
| 30–34 | 6,841 |
| 35–39 | 4,761 |
| 40–44 | 3,522 |
| 45–49 | 2,416 |
| 50–54 | 2,100 |
| 55–59 | 1,743 |
| 60–64 | 1,107 |
| 65 and over | 872 |
Youth also accounts for the highest rate of undiagnosed infections. Today, more than 40% of all HIV-positive youth between the ages of 13 and 24 are unaware of their status and, as a result, are more likely to infect others. The picture is little improved among adults 25 to 34, where more than a quarter remain undiagnosed.
