Hong Kong Aids cases jump more than 60% to 101 last year compared with 2022, health statistics reveal
- City’s 100-plus Aids cases last year compare with 62 in 2022, 90 in 2021 and 112 in 2020
- It is the first increase in Aids diagnoses since the coronavirus pandemic hit Hong Kong in early 2020
The number of Hong Kong Aids cases jumped by over 60 per cent to more than 100 last year compared with 2022, health statistics have revealed.
The Department of Health, which released the figures on Tuesday, said the city recorded a total of 101 Aids cases in 2023, up from 62 in 2022.
It was the first increase in Aids diagnoses since the coronavirus pandemic hit Hong Kong at the start of 2020.
The city logged 122 cases in 2019 before the number dropped to 112 in 2020, and 90 in 2021.
Hong Kong has logged a total of 2,483 Aids cases since 1985. Among the cases found last year, 14 were reported in the fourth quarter and were attributed to homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual contact.
The authorities also recorded a total of 397 cases of HIV infection last year, the virus that causes Aids, down from 409 cases in 2022.
“The number of reports of HIV infection has decreased for eight consecutive years from the peak of 725 cases in 2015 to 397 cases in 2023, but the rate of decline has moderated visibly last year,” a spokesman for the department’s Centre for Health Protection said.
He added that more than 80 per cent of Aids patients recorded last year progressed to the disease within three months of diagnosis with HIV infection, which indicated that most people who had the virus had not had early testing for HIV antibodies.
The 397 HIV infections reported last year involved 326 men and 71 women.
More than half – 209 – acquired the infection through homosexual or bisexual contact, followed by 110 from heterosexual contact.
Other infection routes included intravenous drug use, blood or blood product transfusion as well as mother-to-child transmission.
UN official urges Hong Kong to use digital strengths in global fight against Aids
The total number of HIV infections reported in Hong Kong since 1984 is 12,038.
The department said the most common Aids-defining illness was pneumocystis pneumonia, a fungal infection in one or both lungs.
“HIV is the cause of Aids, and sexual transmission remained the major mode of HIV transmission,” the spokesman said.
Dr Wilson Lam, the vice-president of the Hong Kong Society for Infectious Diseases, attributed the increase to less screening of people over the pandemic as they focused more on Covid-19 and neglected other symptoms.
He added many test providers had also suspended services. Lam said that all these factors could have contributed to delays in diagnoses.
But Lam said that the number of reported HIV infections had declined over the past few years because of improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment, as well as better education about the condition.
He said he expected the number of HIV and Aids cases to continue to decline in a stable manner.
Hong Kong can play key role in fight against Aids
The health department spokesman appealed to the public to always use condoms during sex and wear them properly to reduce the risk of HIV infection.
The spokesman added people with a history of unsafe sex should have an HIV antibody test early, and those with a higher risk of infection should undergo regular HIV screenings.
He said people found to have HIV should seek specialist care and treatment as soon as possible.
The spokesman said many community resources were available.
The spokesman emphasised that early treatment of HIV with antiretroviral drugs could effectively prevent progression to Aids and other complications.
