progress, challenges and disparities between nations | EUROtoday

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In 2025, HIV is now not a worldwide well being emergency, however stays a transparent indicator of inequality. This may be seen clearly within the European Union, the place the battle towards the virus is performed out on two opposing fronts: on the one hand the superior and widespread prevention of nations like Spain, on the opposite the structural fragilities of South-Eastern Europe, the place stigma, paperwork and migratory flows proceed to decelerate progress.

Europe, as a complete, has dramatically diminished new infections over the previous decade. But beneath the floor of the info a fracture opens up that isn’t simply health-related: it’s political, financial and cultural. In the facilities of Athens and Sofia, the place the infectious illness departments function on the restrict of sources, docs communicate of a “silent emergency”. In Madrid, nevertheless, the well being authorities are celebrating the 60% drop in new instances in a decade and the arrival of PrEP in pharmacies.

Meanwhile, cuts to worldwide funds and rising migratory stress threat reversing the development exactly in probably the most uncovered nations. HIV, at this time, is much less a illness and extra a litmus check of the European healthcare system: the place welfare holds, the virus retreats; the place the hyperlinks of help loosen, it begins to advance once more.

Greece: between migration, stigma and paperwork

In Greece, HIV is intertwined with the migration disaster and an already fragile healthcare system. According to official information from the National Public Health Organization, in 2024 there have been 650 new diagnoses, and virtually 40% involved individuals of non-Greek origin, primarily from sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. More than half of the constructive migrants – 55% – arrive for remedy at a sophisticated stage, when the an infection has already compromised the immune system. “The problem is not only access to therapies, but the delay in connecting patients to specialized centers, especially in refugee camps on the islands,” explains Dr. Giota Lourida, an infectious illness specialist on the Evaggelismos hospital in Athens.

Greece additionally ensures free antiretroviral remedy to undocumented migrants, however many stay in a “grey area”: ​​they lose entry to the healthcare system as soon as their asylum software is rejected, and might solely obtain primary medicines, not complementary remedies.