Portugal set to achieve HIV targets ahead of deadline

The Portuguese minister of health announced on 5 July 2018 that Portugal has achieved two of the three HIV targets set by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), known as the 90–90–90 targets. This puts the country on track to reach all three targets ahead of the 2020 deadline.

The minister’s announcement is based on data from 2016 that finds:

• 91.7% of people living with HIV are diagnosed
• 86.8% of people diagnosed are on treatment
• 90.3% of people on treatment achieve HIV viral load suppression

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Portugal was among the European countries with the largest number of new HIV infections, relative to its population size. Since the emergence of the epidemic, Portugal has shown its commitment to mounting a strong HIV response based on evidence, adopting people-centred approaches and promoting the involvement of civil society, including people living with HIV.

Source: WHO Europe, 11 July 2018