Outlook for AIDS patients more than doubled in Brazil

The outlook for Brazilian AIDS patients more than doubled after Brazil started adopting public policies against the disease. A study published Tuesday (May 28) by the Health Ministry shows that 70 percent of adult patients and 87 percent of children diagnosed between 2003 and 2007 survived for over 12 years. In 1996, before the ministry offered universal treatment to HIV/AIDS patients, the outlook was estimated at about five years.

The study surveyed 112,103 adult patients and 2,616 children across the country from 2003 to 2007. Of this total, 70 percent of adults and 87 percent of children lived until the data collection for this research was finished, in 2014. Of the adults who died, 27,147 passed away as a result of AIDS, and 7,297 due to unrelated causes. Of the children, 280 died due to AIDS, 47 from other causes.

The research considered factors other than the time between diagnosis and death, like the AIDS mortality rate in the period, statistic assessment, and risk models. In the period surveyed, the AIDS mortality rate in adults was down 89.1 percent. Among children, the reduction was 88.8 percent.

Free medication

Brazil was among the first countries—the only country, considering how large its population is—to distribute medication for AIDS in public health care centers for free, in 1996, according to official data.

In addition to treatment, the ministry also has initiatives like the distribution of male and female condoms, educational measures aimed at expanding access to new technology, like post- and pre-exposure prophylaxis.

As it stands today, 866 thousand people are estimated to live with HIV in Brazil. The epidemic is considered to have been stabilized, the Health Ministry reported.

The study is dubbed Estudo de Abrangência Nacional de Sobrevida e Mortalidade de Pacientes com Aids no Brasil (“Study on the National Scope for Outlook and Mortality of AIDS Patients in Brazil”) and was funded by the ministry and carried out by specialists from health institutions and universities in the state of São Paulo.