December 1 is World AIDS Day. The first-ever HIV case in our country was diagnosed back in 1993. At the moment, there’s a total of 1.493 citizens carrying the virus, whereas 294 patients have unfortunately lost their lives since HIV was first detected in our country.
In 2021, an additional 91 citizens were newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, 65 of whom were male and 26, female.
“I want to focus the attention on the late diagnoses of this infection. It continues to be the most prominent issue. More than half of diagnosed cases come to us through the clinic, which means that these people are coming to our health offices and seeking help only after they’ve started seeing symptoms,” – said Roland Bani, coordinator of the National HIV/AIDS Program.
In a report presented by the epidemiologist doctor, Marjeta Dervishi, the most affected age group is from 24-44 years old. Men account for the majority of cases.
“70% of cases are men and the rest are women. A considerable share of these cases belongs to the MSM community (men that have sex with other men). The fact that they don’t admit to it results in a higher percentage,” – explained Bani.
There are currently 759 cases in our country receiving antiretroviral treatment and another 101, who started treatment this year.
According to the 2020 stats, there are currently 37.7 million reported cases of people living with HIV, whereas another 680 thousand have lost their lives to it.
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