Wednesday, December 02, 2015
The mortality rate for those with AIDS in Hong Kong has declined by a staggering 90 percent compared to the pre- combination antiretroviral therapy era some 20 years ago.
This was announced by health authorities yesterday World AIDS Day.
"The mortality of HIV/AIDS patients has become very low with the advent of effective treatment. Death/progression to new AIDS complications have declined by about 90 percent compared with the non-highly active antiretroviral therapy era," the Department of Health told The Standard.
This means more people with HIV are living longer since the mid-1990s when doctors began giving a "cocktail of highly active antiretroviral therapy" to HIV/AIDS patients.
However the therapy is expensive, costing around HK$8,000 a month per patient.
"There has been rising anti-HIV drug expenditure in the public sector due to the rising number of patients under care and on treatment," the department said.
World Health Organization director general Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said the Millennium Development Goal of reversing the HIV epidemic was reached ahead of the 2015 deadline, due to an expansion of antiretroviral therapy that has resulted in "a stark reduction" of AIDS-related deaths.
Increasingly effective prevention efforts have also reduced the number of HIV infections.
Since the peak of the epidemic in 2004, the number of deaths has fallen by 42 percent with 7.8 million lives being saved over the past 15 years.
But Hong Kong seems to be bucking the trend, with 2015 seeing a record 541 new HIV infections up to September.
The epidemic in recent years has been largely due to men having sex with men.
Society for AIDS Care chief executive office Alice Chan Lai-hing said: "Although the government has been investing resources in targeting the male homosexual group, we think the numbers reflect that more work still needs to be done."
Hong Kong Aids Foundation is giving free and confidential HIV tests until Saturday at various locations.
KINLING LO and MARY ANN BENITEZ
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=163825&sid=45678227&con_type=1&d_str=20151202&fc=4
