Get A SITUATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF HIV/AIDS IN THE MALDIVES FOR YEAR 2000. HIV / AIDS - Hawaii

Late symptoms of HIV and AIDS can include severe weight loss, fever, extreme fatigue, or impaired memory, and opportunistic infections that can affect multiple systems in the body. Treatment with ART can help prevent HIV progressing and can increase the chances that people live longer, healthier lives.

You may not have any symptoms at all for up to 10 years. At that point, HIV begins to make it hard for your body to fight off infections, so you can get infections that normally wouldn't affect you. When your immune system reaches a certain point of weakness, that's when HIV becomes AIDs.

The total number of people globally living with HIV has increased from 27.2 million people in 2000 to 39.9 million people in 2023. However, the total number of new HIV infections has decreased from 2.8 million in 2000 to 1.3 million in 2023.

Most people infected with HIV experience a short, flu-like illness that occurs 2-6 weeks after infection. After this, HIV may not cause any symptoms for several years. It's estimated up to 80% of people who are infected with HIV experience this flu-like illness.

A situation analysis puts the HIV epidemic in its social, economic, and cultural context in a given country. It looks at who is infected or is vulnerable to infection, and tries to explain why.

Many people living with HIV can expect to live as long as their peers who do not have HIV. Studies show that a person living with HIV has a similar life expectancy to an HIV-negative person – providing they are diagnosed in good time, have good access to medical care, and are able to adhere to their HIV treatment.

Acute HIV infection (Stage 1) progresses over a few weeks to months to become chronic or asymptomatic HIV infection (Stage 2) (no symptoms). This stage can last 10 years or longer. During this period, the person might have no reason to suspect they have HIV, but they can spread the virus to others.

In the Maldives, UNICEF and partners work to increase adolescent-friendly services and prevent the spread of HIV, The HIV prevalence rate in the Maldives is low: between 1991 and 2018, the country reported only 25 cases of HIV among Maldivians.