This report presents HIV/AIDS surveillance data for 2020, a period marked by the global COVID-19 pandemic which affected Europe heavily from March 2020 onwards. To better understand the extent to which the pandemic affected 2020 HIV/AIDS surveillance data, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control conducted a short survey that was sent to all 55 countries, territories and areas of the WHO European Region; 21 responses were received. The survey focused on the issues of reduced detection and reporting of HIV cases and on the issue of completeness of some enhanced variables.

Overall, 12 of the 21 respondents, including eight of 15 respondents from the EU/EEA and four of six non-EU/EEA countries, reported reduced testing and detection of HIV cases which had affected their national HIV surveillance data (report Fig. A). Countries that reported reduction in case detection were additionally asked to provide estimates of the magnitude of the reduction in HIV testing. On average, they indicated a 20% reduction in case detection in 2020 compared to the earlier years. Transmission due to injecting drug use accounted for 3.8% of HIV diagnoses in 2020.

P.93 Table 18: AIDS diagnoses in people infected through injecting drug use, by country and year of diagnosis (2011–2020) and cumulative totals, in EU/EEA and other countries of the WHO European Region.

P.104 Map 5: New HIV diagnoses acquired through injecting drug use per 100000 population, 2020

P.12 Table A: Characteristics of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses reported in the WHO European Region, the EU/EEA, and West, Centre and East of the WHO European Region, 2020 (including transmission mode)