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Over 11,000 HIV cases registered in Azerbaijan since 1987

09 February 2026 11:22 (UTC +04:00)

"The first HIV-infected person in Azerbaijan was detected in 1987. In total, from 1987 to the end of the second quarter of 2025, 11,058 Azerbaijani citizens are officially registered with the Republican AIDS Center of the Ministry of Health," said Gunel Babayeva, Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Department of the Republican AIDS Center of the Ministry of Health, APA reports.

It was noted that 70% of them are men and 30% are women: “I would like to particularly emphasize that it is as a result of targeted, comprehensive anti-epidemic and preventive measures implemented among high-risk groups vulnerable to HIV infection, as well as the general population, that Azerbaijan is among the countries with the lowest HIV prevalence rates in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. Combating the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) occupies an important place in the state’s health policy, and activities in this area are carried out systematically across several key directions.

Within the framework of the antiretroviral treatment program implemented in the country since 2006, more than ten thousand people living with HIV are currently under continuous monitoring and treatment. Antiretroviral therapy provided to people living with HIV not only prevents the progression of the infection but also reduces its infectiousness. As the viral load in the blood of individuals receiving treatment is reduced to undetectable levels, the risk of HIV transmission from infected persons to others is minimized.”