Every day, two people in our country are told that they are HIV positive. This is evident from the latest figures from Sciensano. The number of diagnoses is therefore rising slightly again. “But the general trend remains downward.”
In 2021, 781 people in our country were told that they are HIV-positive. An increase of 4 percent compared to the previous year. ‘But we should note that there was a significant drop in 2020 due to corona,’ says Jessika Deblonde, researcher at Sciensano. ‘The corona pandemic resulted in fewer sexual contacts and therefore fewer chances of transmission. That effect is now over.’
The number of acute infections – infections diagnosed four to six weeks after contracting the virus – is back at the same level as in 2019. 48 percent of the infections occurred after homosexual contacts. The increase in the number of new HIV diagnoses was mainly observed among homosexuals of Belgian nationality. There was a stabilization among heterosexuals compared to 2020. And there was a decrease among non-Belgians and women.
Preventive medication
At the same time, the number of people undergoing preventive HIV treatment (Prep) is increasing. At the moment, 5,277 people are following such a treatment, which is more than twice as many as in 2018. Those who follow such a treatment correctly no longer run the risk of contracting the virus.
According to Sciensano, more efforts should be made to use Prep. “We need to make progress not only in early diagnosis but also in the use of the full range of prevention strategies, including Prep, by people at risk of HIV,” says Deblonde. ‘We have to see which barriers we can still remove to spread the use even more widely.’
Sensoa, the Flemish expertise center for sexual health, also says so. There they are concerned that the decrease in the number of HIV diagnoses is not happening fast enough. ‘For years we have been busy informing and sensitizing men who have sex with men, but the downward trend is going too slowly,’ says Boris Cruyssaert of Sensoa. ‘For a stronger decline, all components of prevention and care must work optimally. For example, it would be even better to identify who is at risk, and targeted testing should be carried out.’ Sensoa would also like to see the use of Prep increase and will develop and distribute communication about this. “High-risk individuals should be able to obtain Prep more easily and quickly.”