Digital Health Today

The World Health Organization reports, based on statistics from the end of 2018, that about 38 million people are living with HIV around the world. While about 62% of those – about 23 million people – were receiving antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2018, another 21% of them did not even know their HIV status. That’s about 8 million people who didn’t even know they are infected, and who are at risk of infecting others. The epidemic has impacted different regions of the world disproportionately. For example, Europe has about 2.5 million people living with HIV, and there about 1 Million people in the United States. The African region is the most severely affected, with nearly two-thirds of the total number of people living with HIV worldwide. Nearly 4% of the adult population in Africa are infected, and between 14 to 20% of those individuals are not even aware of their status. South Africa, in particular, has the largest HIV epidemic in the world. Of the global number of people living with HIV, 19% live in