World AIDS Day — December 1, 2017
Weekly / December 1, 2017 / 66(47);1285
World AIDS Day, observed each year on December 1, draws attention to the status of the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic worldwide. The first cases of AIDS were reported in the June 5, 1981, issue of MMWR (1). Today, approximately 36.7 million persons worldwide are living with HIV infection, including approximately 1.8 million persons who were newly infected during 2016 (2). Although the number of annual AIDS-related deaths has declined 48% since 2005, an estimated 1 million persons worldwide died from AIDS in 2016 (2).
In the United States, approximately 39,800 persons received a diagnosis of HIV infection in 2016 (3). In 2014, an estimated 1.1 million persons in the United States were living with HIV infection, and 85% were aware of their infection (4).
Global efforts, including the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, for which CDC is an important implementing agency, resulted in 19.5 million persons worldwide receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection in 2016, an increase from 17.1 million in 2015 (5).
References
- CDC. Pneumocystis pneumonia—Los Angeles. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1981;30:250–2. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm PubMedexternal icon
- Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS data 2017. Geneva, Switzerland: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; 2017. http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/20170720_Data_book_2017_en.pdfpdf iconexternal icon
- CDC. Diagnoses of HIV infection in the United States and dependent areas, 2016. HIV surveillance report 2016:28. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance.html
- CDC. Monitoring selected national HIV prevention and care objectives by using HIV surveillance data—United States and 6 dependent areas, 2015. HIV surveillance supplemental report 2017:22(2). https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-supplemental-report-vol-22-2.pdfpdf icon
- Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Ending AIDS progress towards the 90–90–90 targets. Global AIDS update, 2017. Geneva, Switzerland: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; 2017. http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/Global_AIDS_update_2017_en.pdfpdf iconexternal icon
Suggested citation for this article: World AIDS Day — December 1, 2017. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017;66:1285. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6647a1external icon.
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