The HIV epidemic in South Africa: Key findings from 2017 national population-based survey
Date
2022Author
Zuma, Khangelani
Simbayi, Leickness
Igumbor, Ehimario
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV worldwide. South Africa
has implemented five population-based HIV prevalence surveys since 2002 aimed at understanding
the dynamics and the trends of the epidemic. This paper presents key findings from the fifth
HIV prevalence, incidence, and behaviour survey conducted in 2017 following policy, programme,
and epidemic change since the prior survey was conducted in 2012. A cross-sectional populationbased household survey collected behavioural and biomedical data on all members of the eligible
households. A total of 39,132 respondents from 11,776 households were eligible to participate, of
whom 93.6% agreed to be interviewed, and 61.1% provided blood specimens. The provided blood
specimens were used to determine HIV status, HIV incidence, viral load, exposure to antiretroviral
treatment, and HIV drug resistance. Overall HIV incidence among persons aged 2 years and above
was 0.48% which translates to an estimated 231,000 new infections in 2017.