In 2021, 120 People in Serbia Reported HIV Positive

Institute for Public Health(BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/DS)

Since the beginning of the year, 120 people in Serbia have been reported positive for HIV, which is twice as many as last year, it was announced at a Dec. 1 news conference held in Belgrade on occasion of  World AIDS Day.

According to records at the Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut Institute for Public Health, 34 individuals were newly diagnosed with AIDS in the same period, while seven died of the disease and three reportedly passed away from non-AIDS-related illnesses.

At the media conference, titled "Inequality, AIDS, the Pandemic - Let's Put Them to a Stop", the representatives of seven municipalities -- Subotica, Novi Sad, Sabac, Novi Pazar, Nis, Zajecar and Belgrade's Stari Grad district -- signed the Paris Declaration, thereby committing to supporting the fight against HIV.

Ferenc Vicko, a state secretary with the Serbian Ministry of Health, stated that combating HIV requires a multidisciplinary approach and that HIV testing was negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vicko said that 45 percent less people tested positive in 2020 compared to the year before, although estimates claim that about 1,200 individuals in Serbia are HIV-positive yet unaware. Despite this state of affairs, however, Vicko maintained that the situation with Covid did not undermine the quality of care offered to AIDS patients.