The Advisory Council on AIDS has published the blueprint for a co-ordinated and consolidated response on local HIV prevention and control, including policy recommendations and priority areas for action for the next five years.
Unveiling the Recommended HIV/AIDS Strategies for Hong Kong (2017-2021) report today, council chairperson Dr Susan Fan said the coming years will be a critical point which may determine if the HIV epidemic spins out of control.
She called on government departments, healthcare workers, community organisations and society to make concerted efforts to prevent this from happening.
The strategies propose men who have sex with men receive HIV antibody testing annually and use condoms consistently, irrespective of their self-perception of infection risk.
All HIV-positive patients should receive HIV treatment as soon as they are diagnosed, while the capacity of HIV-related services to identify drug-using clients and improvement of HIV prevention and testing services in drug rehabilitation and treatment services should be strengthened.
The council proposes sex and HIV education be intensified through life-skills education and it should be age-appropriate, focusing on the avoidance of risky sexual behaviour and HIV-related discrimination.
Another strategy is to strengthen antenatal testing of women liable to HIV infection to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
The strategies also identify a number of emerging service needs, such as increasing infections among young men who have sex with men who have lower testing rates, condom use and links to care than older men.
To address the current HIV epidemic and service needs, the strategies set out priority action for men who have sex with men and people living with HIV, as well as other key populations including people who inject drugs, ethnic minorities and female sex workers and their male clients.
Locally, the annual number of HIV infections newly reported to the Department of Health continued to rise, reaching a cumulative total of 8,410 cases last year.
Infections among men who have sex with men accounted for 60% of reported cases in 2016.
The strategies have been uploaded to the council's website.
