AIDS mortality drops 78% since 1995 in São Paulo

A survey by the Seade Foundation, an agency of the São Paulo government, shows that AIDS mortality in the state has dropped 78% since 1995, the year of the peak of deaths from the disease. In the 1990s, there were 7,739 deaths, of which 5,850 were men. In 2021, there were 1,719 deaths, 1,237 of which were among the male population. The mortality rate was 22.9 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 1995; 7.6 in 2010; and reached 3.8 in 2021. In the early 1990s, almost 90% of victims were people under the age of 44. Over time, with new treatments and improved quality of life, this percentage has changed. Last year, people over 45 accounted for nearly 60% of deaths. The average age at death increased gradually, in 2021, it reached 49 years for women and 47 for men. The disclosure of the numbers marks the World AIDS Day, celebrated tomorrow, December 1st. Municipal data The number of new cases of HIV in the city of São Paulo fell for the fifth consecutive year. The reduction is 37.5% in 2021 compared to 2016, according to data from the 2021 Epidemiological Bulletin, released by the Coordination of Sexually Transmitted Infections (IST)/AIDS, of the Municipal Health Secretariat. Last year, 2,351 cases were registered and in 2016 there were 3,761 cases. In 2020, 2,518 new cases of HIV were registered. In 2019, there were 2,972; in 2018, 3,285; in 2017, there were 3,713 new cases. According to the city hall, since the first record of the disease, in 1981, a drop in notifications has not been observed for more than three years in a row. AIDS records show the same trend, but, in this case, there has been a six-year decline in the municipality. The death rate per 100,000 inhabitants also continues to fall. Last year, the index was 4.3. In comparison with 2016, when the rate was 6.3, there was a reduction of 31.7% in the period. Rehabilitation center Marking the date, the ground zero of the Sérgio Tardelli Rehabilitation Center for patients with HIV was launched at the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas. The project is a partnership between the hospital, the state government and the Aids News Agency, an initiative created by Roseli Tardelli, sister of the honoree. The new structure will be in a building attached to the hospital’s outpatient clinic. Sérgio Tardelli died in November 1994. As an HIV patient, he went to court to have his right to be served by health plans recognized. Initially, treatment was denied. By winning the action, other patients began to benefit. Roseli, a journalist, founded the news agency in 2003 with the idea of ​​giving visibility to the issue and contributing to the dissemination of information on the subject, in addition to combating prejudice. The rehabilitation center will be built on an area of ​​1,000 square meters provided by the hospital. The agency, in turn, according to information on the website, will seek partners from the private sector to purchase rehabilitation equipment, such as treadmills, ultrasound equipment, bodybuilding stations, planks and parallel bars, among others. The space will undergo a renovation, under the responsibility of the São Paulo State Health Department, which will be part of the package for the third and final stage of the hospital’s renovation. The forecast is that the unit will start operating in a year. Service The plan is that anyone who needs to receive care at the rehabilitation center will be received by multidisciplinary teams from Emílio Ribas. They are professionals such as physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and psychologists, in addition to the Neuroscience group; from the Lipodystrophy group, a syndrome that affects patients with HIV and causes imbalance in the distribution of fat throughout the body; of the Occupational Medicine Sector. At least 70 calls per day can be performed. The Emílio Ribas Ambulatory provides follow-up to 8,000 patients, 75% of whom are People Living with HIV (PLHIV), some of whom live with neurological, motor, cognitive and respiratory complications. The center will also be able to receive patients with other diseases treated at Emílio Ribas, such as covid-19 and HTLV, a virus considered a “cousin” of HIV and which can cause serious neurological disease. Programming To mark World AIDS Day, the Reference and Training Center-DST/AIDS-SP, from the Health Secretariat, will carry out the Less Discrimination and More Respect action with the participation of municipalities and civil society. One of the events will take place at the João Yunes Amphitheater of the USP School of Public Health, from 9 am to 4 pm. Another action is the Caminha Sabendo campaign, which will distribute 200,000 tests to detect HIV and syphilis in 632 municipalities. There will be around 900 actions in the state involving 4,000 health units. The city of São Paulo, in turn, promotes the Red December campaign with a series of activities in the capital, such as rapid testing, a seminar and awards. The full schedule can be found on the Health Department website.

Agência Brasil