Hong Kong should strive to end Aids by 2030, reduce number of HIV infections to near zero, government advisers say
- Hong Kong Advisory Council on Aids publishes five-year strategy in line with UNAids goal to end disease as public health threat
- ‘We need to tackle other outstanding issues in the local HIV epidemic, including the increased number of infections among women from ethnic minority groups,’ council chairman says
Hong Kong should strive to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030 by reducing the number of new HIV infections to near zero, government advisers have said, adding more needs to be done to reach out to minority groups.
The goal, which was laid out in a five-year strategy released on Tuesday by the Hong Kong Advisory Council on Aids, aligns with the aim of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAids) to reduce infections and related deaths by 90 per cent by 2030, compared with a 2010 baseline.
Hong Kong has recorded 307 new HIV infections as of September this year, of which 53 involved a diagnosis of Aids. The number of new infections reported to the Centre for Health Protection has been declining for six years in a row since the figure reached its peak in 2015.
Homosexual contact among men accounted for a high proportion of HIV infections. In 2021, more than 60 per cent of HIV cases involved men who had sex with men. The remaining cases were mainly attributed to heterosexual contact and drug use via injection.
“We need to tackle other outstanding issues in the local HIV epidemic, including the increased number of infections among women from ethnic minority groups, the static level of heterosexual transmission, and, in particular, infections among transgender individuals,” council chairman Dr Patrick Li Chung-ki said.
“This latter minority group has become an international concern, and yet our community and healthcare services still have an insufficient understanding of their special needs and how best to reach out to support them in preventing HIV infections.”
Li is an honorary consultant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s department of medicine. Director of health Dr Ronald Lam Man-kin from the Department of Health serves as the council’s vice-chairman.
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In its five-year strategy, the council outlined four objectives for the city to attain by the end of 2026: 95 per cent of people living with HIV should be aware of their status; antiretroviral therapy provided for 95 per cent of people diagnosed with HIV; and 95 per cent of those receiving treatment achieving viral load suppression.
Access to HIV prevention tools such as condoms and lubricants for 90 per cent of the “priority population” was also listed among the objectives.
Priority population comprises men who have sex with men, people living with HIV, ethnic minorities, transgender people, individuals who inject drugs, and female sex workers and their clients.
The city should also strive to end new HIV infections, discrimination and Aids-related deaths, the report said.
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The council recommended scaling up HIV testing services with more mobile stations and self-test kits, given a low testing rate among men who have sex with men, who are advised to undergo screening once a year by the Scientific Committee on Aids. Those in polyamorous relationships should get tested once every three months, the committee suggests.
Young people should also receive comprehensive sex education on HIV, while efforts to counter misinformation and make use of social media platforms to reach out to target groups, including ethnic minority communities should be ramped up, the council said.
It added there was an urgent need to ensure healthcare settings were discrimination-free and accepting so that people with different sexual orientations felt comfortable accessing services.
It called on health authorities to provide more resources to transgender people, urging service providers to ensure current approaches were inclusive.
UNAids had aimed to achieve the “90-90-90” targets by 2020, but the majority of countries failed, with the Covid-19 pandemic playing a role in causing HIV service disruptions.
“Inequalities that underpin stigma and discrimination enhance people’s vulnerability to acquire HIV and make [people living with HIV] more likely to die of Aids-related illnesses,” the council said.
Yan Lee Tsz-yan, fundraising and communications manager at the Society for Aids Care, called on authorities to reduce red tape in accessing HIV tests so that the recommended targets could be achieved by 2026.
“The government’s free self-test kits are not really free, as residents are required to pay a deposit in advance, and it can only be refunded after they have uploaded the test result within a specific timeframe,” Lee said. “It’s too complicated and may drive people away from using the service.”
Under the Department of Health’s HIV self-testing programme, residents have to pay a HK$130 deposit, which can be refunded if the result is uploaded within 14 days. A mobile phone number is required and only one kit can be ordered at a time.
Lee said she hoped authorities would step up efforts to promote HIV testing and encourage private healthcare providers to include such screening among regular checks.
“The government has been very focused on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in recent years, which has diverted resources for fighting the HIV epidemic,” she said. “Now that the city is returning to normality, it is time for the authorities to put more focus on the needs of HIV patients.”
Separately, the city on Tuesday recorded 7,547 Covid-19 infections, including 590 imported cases, and 13 deaths related to the virus. The coronavirus tally stands at 2,109,435 cases, with 10,731 fatalities.
