According to research published in HIV
Medicine, Sweden is the first nation to achieve a major milestone
in HIV treatment and prevention.
Sweden has achieved goals proposed in
2014 by the UNAIDS/World Health Organization (WHO).
The 90-90-90 goals propose that 90
percent of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90 percent of
people diagnosed with HIV are on sustained treatment, and 90 percent
have durable viral suppression by 2020.
“We believe that Sweden is the first
country to achieve the UNAIDS/WHO 90-90-90 goal,” the
researchers wrote.
“In summary, the UNAIDS/WHO 90-90-90
coverage target of 73% of HIV-infected individuals with undetectable
HIV RNA has been achieved, with 90% of all those infected diagnosed,
83% of those infected on ART [antiretroviral therapy], and 78% of
those infected with a suppressed viral load (<50 copes/ml),” the
authors said.
Researchers pointed to several reasons
for Sweden's success, including small size of the epidemic, strict
HIV reporting laws and free access to medicines.