HIV-depression: A Shadow Over 90-90-90 UNAIDS Program

Abstract

© 2018 Zirulnik JL. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. There are 36.9 million people living with HIV (PLWHIV) according to a 2017 WHO estimation; 70% of the affected population is living in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Depression, alcohol/ substance abuse and neurocognitive deficit are the three most common psychiatric disorders found in PLWHIV in said countries. Depression is the most prevalent, with a rate over 30%. It is of high interest then, to study the way in which this high prevalence has an impact on initiatives for the prevention and treatment of HIV infection, such as the 90-90-90 program of UN-OMS. The way to do this, is to focus on the current state of the depression treatment cascade observed in PLWHIV, and its link with adherence to antiviral treatment1.