Health authorities confirm 393 HIV/AIDS cases across Georgia in 2023

Georgian health authorities have confirmed 393 cases of HIV/AIDS across the country throughout 2023, the Centre for Infectious Diseases, AIDS and Clinical Immunology said on Thursday.

The figure is nearly identical to the 394 cases revealed in the same period of the last year and brings the number of individuals with the condition to 10,170, of which 7,604 are men and 2,566 women.

The majority of infected people are aged 29-39. AIDS has developed in 4,985 patients, while 2,156 people have died from AIDS”, the Centre said.

Data published by the Centre also shows that:

• 51.4% of infected patients (5,228 individuals) were infected as a result of heterosexual contact
• 32.6% patients (3,313) were drug addicts
• 13.3% - or 1,352 male patients - contracted the condition following sexual contact with male partners
• 1.2% were infected through vertical transmission (121 patients)
• 0.4% contracted the virus via their status as blood recipients (41 patients)
• 1.1% - unknown routes of transmission (115 patients)

The most cases (3,830) were reported in the capital city of Tbilisi, where the number included 100 foreign citizens.

Other regions of Georgia where most cases were reported are:

• Samegrelo – 1,301 cases
• Imereti – 1,227 
• Adjara – 1,211 
• Abkhazia – 556 
• Kakheti – 498 

This year saw 96 people die from AIDS, of which 75 were men and 22 women, said the body.  

The Centre added 129 HIV/AIDS-infected children had been identified in Georgia, of which 76 were boys and 53 girls. 32 children died and three left the country, the statistics showed.