Health commission says HIV/AIDS prevalence remains low in Shanghai

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS remains low in the city, officials from the Shanghai Health Commission said on Tuesday, ahead of World AIDS Day.

Males still cover the majority of HIV/AIDS cases and sex remains the main conduit, especially sex between male and male.

The city had reported 1,693 cases of HIV carriers by November 20 this year, up 14.2 percent from the same time last year. The figure though is 13.3 percent lower than that of 2019, officials said.

There were 500 AIDS patients in the city, with 194 deaths being reported, down 10.6 percent and 24.8 percent, respectively, from the previous year.

About 91 percent of new HIV cases were male, almost the same with last year.

Among the HIV carriers detected this year, 96.4 percent were transmitted by sex. Male-male sex accounted for 58.8 percent of all sex-related cases.

Cases of elderly aged over 60 covered 11.6 percent of all new HIV cases this year, with males accounting for 85.2 percent. The figures were the same last year.

No mother-to-infant infections have occurred so far this year in Shanghai, for the 12th straight year.

Since the first reported HIV infection in the city in 1987, Shanghai has seen 27,861 infections, including 9,471 AIDS cases. A total of 2,444 people have died.

Shanghai has been further enhancing comprehensive AIDS prevention and control through promoting education, stepping up intervention among high-risk population by encouraging self-tests for a better and quicker detection of HIV/AIDS cases.

The 37 national- and 10 city-level AIDS monitoring spots have carried our high-risk behavior evaluation, perfected HIV/AIDS case management and treatment, enhanced services for people who have tested positive in the first round of checks and set up a whole-process system consisting of HIV/AIDS detection, management and treatment, follow-up visits, health education, behavioral intervention and psychological instructions, officials revealed.

Currently, more than 90 percent of HIV/AIDS cases are covered by the management and regular visit system, they added.