Reported AIDS cases

AIDS cases by year of reporting

Date of last report: 2-07-1997

Following WHO and UNAIDS recommendations, AIDS case reporting is carried out in most countries. Data from individual AIDS cases is aggregated at the national level and sent to WHO. However, case reports come from surveillance systems of varying quality. Reporting rates vary substantially from country to country and low reporting rates are common in developing countries due to weaknesses in the health care and epidemiological systems. In addition, countries use different AIDS case definitions. A main disadvantage of AIDS case reporting is that it only provides information on transmission patterns and levels of infection approximately 5-10 years in the past, limiting its usefulness for monitoring recent HIV infections.

Despite these caveats, AIDS case reporting remains an important advocacy tool and is useful in estimating the burden of HIV-related morbidity as well as for short-term planning of health care services. AIDS case reports also provide information on the demographic and geographic characteristics of the affected population and on the relative importance of the various exposure risks. In some situations, AIDS reports can be used to estimate earlier HIV infection patterns using back-calculation. AIDS case reports and AIDS deaths have been dramatically reduced in industrialized countries with the introduction of HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy).

AIDS cases by mode of transmission

Hetero: Heterosexual contacts.

Homo/Bi: Homosexual contacts between men.

IDU: Injecting drug use. This transmission category also includes cases in which other high-risk behaviours were reported, in addition to injection of drugs.

Blood: Blood and blood products.

Perinatal: Vertical transmission during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.

NS: Not specified/unknown.

Aids cases by age and sex