Reducciones en las muertes por VIH en países de altos ingresos, excepto para las personas usuarias de drogas inyectables

Las personas que usan drogas inyectables, las mujeres y las personas en gran precariedad son más vulnerables a una muerte prematura. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

While there have been reductions in the rates of most major causes of death among people with HIV in North America and Europe since 1996, people who inject drugs – particularly women – remain vulnerable to early death.

Before 1996 – when combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) became the mainstay of HIV treatment – death from AIDS was a near inevitability, even in high-income countries. Due to ART’s high effectiveness at suppressing HIV, AIDS-related deaths have declined steeply, particularly in Europe and North America. However, between 1996 and 2012, ART was usually only started when a person’s CD4 count fell below a certain level or based on symptoms. This changed globally based on conclusive findings from the INSIGHT START and TEMPRANO studies – these indicated that immediate ART initiation leads to the best outcomes, regardless of CD4 count and disease stage. Thus, test and treat approaches that aim to minimise the time between diagnosis and starting treatment were implemented globally between 2012 and 2015. People living with HIV on effective treatment are now more likely to die at an older age from age-related illnesses, such as heart disease or cancer than AIDS. Additionally, death from substance use and hepatitis C remains higher among people living with HIV.