The number of new HIV infections in Taiwan has declined for six consecutive years since 2018, with the number of cases this year expected to be less than 1,000 for the first time in 20 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Wednesday.
As of Oct. 31, the number of newly diagnosed HIV infections this year had reached 804, down about 9.3 percent from the 886 recorded in the same period last year, CDC spokesman Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said at an event in Taipei to mark World AIDS Day today.
For the whole of this year, the number of infections is expected to dip below 1,000 for the first time in 20 years, Lo said.
Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control
Last year, 1,069 HIV cases were registered across Taiwan, down from 1,246 the previous year, CDC data showed.
The UN Joint Program on HIV/AIDS has set ambitious treatment targets known as Project 95-95-95, aiming for HIV testing, treatment and viral suppression rates to all be 95 percent by 2030.
Taiwan achieved 90-95-95 last year, outperforming the global average of 86-89-93, Lo said.
An HIV self-testing program in Taiwan served nearly 75,000 people in the first 10 months of this year, the most since the trial run of the program was launched in September 2016, he said.
The number of designated pharmacies that provide medicine for people with HIV and AIDS has increased to more than 100, he added.
In Taiwan, an estimated 10 percent of people who have HIV do not know they have the virus, the CDC said, adding that people can order rapid HIV self-testing kits online at https://hiva.cdc.gov.tw/Selftest/, with shipping fees to be waived this month.
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