In the history of the Brazilian HIV/AIDS epidemic, the city and state of São Paulo has always been ahead of the rest of Brazil.
In the early 1980s, the first cases of the disease were diagnosed there, all from Europe and the United States. The first deaths due to AIDS were also recorded in São Paulo, which led to the creation, years ahead of the rest of the country, of the first health services and administrative department specialized in this disease.
In 1994, for the first time, São Paulo began notifying all cases of HIV infection, regardless of the stage of the disease. The rest of Brazil only started doing the same in 2014. Even then, as meaningless as it seems today, only cases of AIDS and infection in pregnant women and infected children by vertical transmission (mother and infant) were notified to the Ministry of Health.
Speaking of reproductive health, In 2019, São Paulo was the first city of its size in the world to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV As a result of improved coverage of high-quality prenatal care. And last week, the municipality again obtained a certificate from the Ministry of Health stating that it has been maintaining this goal ever since.
For vertical transmission, in São Paulo, sexual transmission of HIV among adults achieved good targets, unprecedented.
according to Epidemiological Bulletin Published December 1 Over the past six years, the rate of new HIV case detection per 100,000 population has fallen by about 40%, which the same document attributes to increased access to to equip (Prevention of prior exposure) to HIV and other methods of testing, prevention and treatment.
In fact, The municipality of São Paulo was the first in the country to believe that PrEP could have a significant impact on the HIV infection curve.🇧🇷 This has caused an increase in the number of services offering this method of prevention and the number of PrEP users over the past five years. Today, São Paulo alone concentrates approximately 30% of PrEP users throughout Brazil.
According to the same publication, from 2016 to 2021, the average time between HIV diagnosis and initiation of antiretroviral therapy in the city of São Paulo was only 116 to 13 days.
Because people with HIV who receive appropriate treatment not only prevent their infection from progressing to AIDS but also stop passing the virus on to their sexual partners, prompt testing, diagnosis and treatment of all people with HIV is a must. An essential stage in controlling the epidemic.
In 2022, São Paulo innovates again and starts new service methods. Created in the city CTA (Center for Testing and Counseling) and the PrEP on the Street Project, two mobile services that travel throughout the municipality and offer HIV testing and prevention services at alternate times, making it easier to reach people who do not attend services. traditional.
With the sharp decline in the number of new cases, São Paulo joins other cities on the planet that are already beginning to see the possibility of eliminating sexual transmission of HIV among adults and achieving true control of the epidemic on the horizon.
I hope that good local results will motivate us to scale up successful policies in the city of São Paulo, and to combat inequalities in access to health due to race, gender and place of residence.
Congratulations, São Paulo, for showing Brazilians that confronting the pandemic is based on scientific knowledge, fairness, and acceptance.
