A quarter of people with HIV in Malta are unaware they are infected

Free self-testing HIV kits were made available at Mater Dei’s GU clinic this year in an effort to encourage more people to test for the virus, the Health Ministry said.

The measure targeted the estimated 25% of HIV sufferers who are unaware they are infected.

Tomorrow marks World AIDS Day, which was introduced by the World Health Organisation in 1988 to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by HIV infection.

The theme for this year was to encourage more people to test for HIV. Lack of awareness increases the risk of transmission.

The Health Ministry said self-testing HIV kits were made available at the GU clinic at Mater Dei Hospital and various local pharmacies.

“These self-test kits allow a person to test for HIV discretely and at their own convenience. At the GU clinic these tests are free and give a quick result within 20 minutes,” the ministry said.

The earlier that someone is diagnosed with HIV, the earlier life-saving treatment can be started.

EU member states resolved to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030, setting goals that have to be achieved by 2020.

EU AIDS goals by 2020

• 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status
• 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy
• 90% of all people received antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

The ministry said Malta was achieving excellent results in the treatment of HIV sufferers (the second and third goals) but acknowledged still a lot of work had to be done to increase the number of people aware of their HIV status.

“The self-testing kits will help push up the figure towards the desired 90%,” the ministry said.

 According to the latest data released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO, nearly 160,000 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in 2017.

This marked another year of alarming numbers of new HIV diagnoses in the European region. On the positive side, the overall increasing trend was not as steep as before.

In eastern Europe, over 130,000 new HIV cases were diagnosed, the highest number ever.

In contrast, the EU and European Economic Area countries reported a decline in rates of new cases. The decline was mainly driven by a 20% decrease since 2015 among men who have sex with men.

No new cases of AIDS were reported in Malta in 2017.

To know more on HIV go to the sexual health page of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate.