Note 1: Relative risk compares the incidence of two populations. Incidence for sex workers, people who inject drugs and transgender people was estimated and then divided by the global incidence of HIV among adults aged 15-49, estimated using the Spectrum models. Incidence for gay men and other men who have sex with men was estimated and then divided by the global incidence of HIV among male adults aged 15-49. Note 2: Transgender people estimates are derived only in the Asia and the Pacifi c, Caribbean, Latin America, and western and central Europe and North America regions. Note 3: Relative risk is interpreted as follows: sex workers have 21 times greater risk of acquiring HIV than adults aged 15-49 in the total population. Source: UNAIDS special analyses using Spectrum 2019 results and 2019 Global AIDS Monitoring submissions, supplemented by data from published literature.More than half of new infections are among key populations and their sexual partners Key populations make up a small proportion of the general population, but they are at extremely high risk of HIV infection. Available data suggest that the risk of HIV acquisition among gay men and other men who have sex with men was 22 times higher in 2018 than it was among all adult men. Similarly, the risk of acquiring HIV for people who inject drugs was 22 times higher than for people who do not inject drugs, 21 times higher for sex workers than adults aged 15-49 years, and 12 times higher for transgender people than adults aged 15-49 years (Figure 2.8).Strong progress in settings with high HIV prevalence in eastern and southern Africa, where HIV is predominantly transmitted within the general population-combined with a mixture of progress and setbacks in lower prevalence regions-has seen the global distribution of new HIV infections in 2018 cross a notable threshold: the majority of global infections were among key populations and their sexual partners. (Figure 2.9) Gay men and other men who have sex with men accounted for an estimated 17% of new HIV infections globally, including more than half of new HIV infections in western and central Europe and North America, 40%
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.