World AIDS day

In 2016, I wrote ‘An overview of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)’ published in the Journal of Paramedic Practice. Its aim was to provide an overview of HIV in terms of what it is, how it is transmitted and how it is managed, as well as to raise the profile of HIV within paramedicine. At the time, I referenced some promising ongoing research relating to how HIV is transmitted from person to person, and the potential for the results of this research to have a meaningful impact on our understanding of HIV and efforts to reduce the rate of transmission. With World AIDS day taking place on 1st December, I wanted to provide a short update on key developments in the fight against HIV.

As of 2019, an estimated 106 000 people were living with HIV in the UK, with 4139 people newly diagnosed in 2019. Among these new cases, only 42% were gay or bisexual men. HIV diagnosis among gay and bisexual men continues to fall, with 18% fewer cases diagnosed between 2018–2019 and 47% fewer than in 2014. New cases of HIV continue to decline year on year (Public Health England, 2020).