World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day, which falls on 1 December 2020, serves as a yearly reminder of the global HIV and AIDS epidemic. The most recent worldwide report of the UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that 38 million people were living with HIV in 2019. As of the end of June 2020, around 26 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy, up from 6.4 million in 2009. Approximately 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2019, representing a 40% decrease compared to the peak in 1998. There were around 690,000 AIDS-related deaths worldwide last year, representing a decline of 39% in AIDS-related mortality since 2010.

Information and data on HIV in Scotland is available on the Health Protection Scotland (HPS) website. According to the latest data, which covers the period up to 31 December 2019, an estimated 6,100 people are living with HIV in Scotland, of whom 92% (5,617) are diagnosed.

More information about the campaign and how to get involved is available on the World AIDS Day website.