HIV Every second person does not know about their own illness

December 1 is World AIDS Day, and one thing is certain: while AIDS is getting better and better around the world, every second in the world still does not know that he / she is infected - in Europe, every seventh.

No help without knowledge
The therapy is progressing, especially in the AIDS research: British researchers achieve a cure. In order to undergo a therapy that keeps the virus at bay, it is still essential to know your own infection.

self-test
The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore calls for self-tests - but these are illegal in Germany.

37 million infected
The WHO estimates that 37 million people worldwide have been infected with the virus, including 18.2 million antiretroviral drugs. These prevent the infection from becoming a broken immune deficiency. The other 18.8 million do not usually know that they are infected.

The risk of death increases
The later the infection is detected, the greater the risk of dying of AIDS. In 2015, the disease was fatal in 1.1 million people.

90-90-90
In 2015 WHO called for Aids to be completed by 2030. The goal of the WHO is today: In 3 years, 90% of the infected people know about their infection, 90% of people with the diagnosis are treated positively, and in 90% of those treated, the virus is suppressed.

Which tests are there?
Today's tests reliably detect antibodies in blood, saliva and urine. A confirmation of the doctors is necessary, since laymen easily make mistakes in the application.

Men are carefree
Especially men are rarely tested. This is a particular problem in Africa, because AIDS is usually transmitted via heterosexual traffic. But even in Europe and America men go despite education about the virus hardly to the test.

Gay contacts
In Europe and America, homosexual contact between men is the biggest source of contagion.

Young women
Teenage girls are one of the most vulnerable groups worldwide. Nevertheless, especially in South and East Africa, where young women are infected up to eight times more frequently than men, too little of those affected go to the test.

Key groups crowd out the danger
Even with the main risk groups, sex workers and users who inject drugs, test are hardly common. In Greece, for example, HIV infections among drug users increased.

No all-clear for Europe
AIDS can now be controlled far better than at the beginning of the disease. However, the infections do not diminish: In Western Europe, 27,022 new people were infected with the virus in 2015.

Groups that ignore the danger are teenagers and HIV-infected partners. The teenagers lack "alarmism" during the first wave of Aidstoten in the 1980s, and they pay less attention to "safe sex" than the then generation of adolescents.

Eastern Europe little affected
Eastern Europe is still relatively unaffected, but proportionally the number of infections is rising, in 2015 it was 5.297. Above all, homosexual men are affected, who are also subjected to persecution in countries such as Poland, so that an open education is impossible.

Former Soviet Union is crisis region
The countries of the former Soviet Union became a hotspot of contagion. In 2015, doctors diagnosed there 121,088 new HIV infections, and an 80% increase in the outbreak. Above all, there is a lack of opportunities for prevention among vulnerable groups such as homosexuals, prisoners and drug users. All these groups are socially excluded.

In Germany, the development is positive
In Germany, the situation looks relatively good: Of probably 84,700 infected, 72,000 know about their infection, and 60,700 of them take antiretroviral drugs. In 2015, "only" about 460 people died - of 1.1 million worldwide. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)