Abstract

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) “90- 90-90” target aims to decrease the annual number of new HIV infections and AIDS related deaths to <200 000 by 2030. The aim of this article is to define the HIV epidemic and the response to the epidemic in Turkey within the context of UNAIDS target and to discuss how close we are to achieve this target. The number of new HIV diagnoses has increased by 2.5-fold between 2012 and 2016, which is most likely an underestimation. While heterosexual transmission rates started to decline recently, transmissions between men who have sex with men increased significantly. However, real life data are not in accordance with reported numbers. The 25-34 years age group has the highest number of new diagnoses with a recent decrease among 35-44 years and increase among 20-24 years. In Turkey, 48-52.4% of people living with HIV are diagnosed late and 24-30.6% with advanced disease. This may be due to the lack of targeted testing strategies for key populations and the diagnosis being made during the differential diagnosis of symptomatic cases (35- 48.8%). Access to antiretroviral drugs in Turkey is better than it is in Central and Eastern European countries, and antiretrovira  treatment is initiated for all people living with HIV regardless of the CD4 T cell count after publication of an official guideline on HIV diagnosis and treatment in 2013. Virologic success rates are high (76.6-90%) among those who start using antiretroviral treatment. Turkey has good standards for and better access to HIV treatment and management compared to many neighboring countries. Collaborative work of all stakeholders is crucial to control the HIV infection in the country

Cite this article as: Gökengin D. [HIV infection in Turkey: How close are we to the target?]. Klimik Derg. 2018; 31(1): 4-10. Turkish.