World Day

HIV, Italy lags behind on early diagnosis

Stable data but too late: 59.9% are diagnosed when the infection is already advanced

by Francesca Cerati

25 November 2025

Stop AIDS. Close up of a small red AIDS ribbon being in the womans hands

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Iss numbers
Prevention, the turning point: EU approves first six-month PrEP
"The choice is you": the new campaign for people living with HIV

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

World AIDS Day on 1 December opens, in Italy, with a figure that continues to cause concern: in 2024, 59.9% of new diagnoses of HIV infection occurred late, often when the infection was already at an advanced stage. This is confirmed by new data from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Iss), which photograph a country where the ability to intercept the virus early remains insufficient, despite the therapeutic advances and prevention tools available today.

Iss Numbers

In 2024, 2,379 new HIV diagnoses were recorded, or 4 cases per 100,000 residents: a lower incidence than the Western European average (5.9), but stable after the increase that began in the post-pandemic period. Transmission remains largely sexual, with 46% of infections attributed to heterosexual intercourse and 41.6% to men having sex with men.

On the AIDS front, in 2024 the national registry notified 450 new cases, of which 83.6% concerned people who only discovered they were HIV positive in the six months prior to diagnosis. A delay that, the Iss emphasises, reduces the effectiveness of treatment and contributes to the unconscious transmission of the virus.

Faced with these numbers, Anlaids president Luca Butini's comment is stark: 'Over the last decade, the proportion of people who are diagnosed late with the infection has increased. We must expand the offer of community-based tests, involve family doctors, and propose them in emergency rooms. Anyone who is sexually active should consider doing it'.

Butini emphasises that the diagnostic delay is still one of the main obstacles in the fight against HIV: 'Of the 450 AIDS diagnoses in 2024, almost 84 per cent concern people who did not know they were infected. Testing is the entry point on a path that can really lead us to making HIV no longer a threat'. The median age of diagnosis, around 41, also highlights a double target: intercepting those who are older and informing those who are younger, especially those in their twenties and thirties.

On the 40th anniversary of its foundation, Anlaids recalls the urgency of a structured intervention and presents new educational projects: these include 'Anlaids meets students', an initiative dedicated to education on affectivity and sexuality, and the awarding of the 'Dress - prevention' competition, aimed at fashion schools to create a dress-manifesto on conscious sexuality.

Prevention, the turning point: EU approves first six-monthly PrEP

While Iss data indicate persistent delays, on the prevention front, the European Commission authorised lenacapavir as twice-yearly injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the first six-monthly option available in EU countries.

The decision is based on the results of the Purpose 1 and 2 clinical studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which showed a 100 per cent reduction in the risk of infection in women in the Purpose 1 study and 99.9 per cent in the male and trans sample in the Purpose 2 study.

A solution described by experts as 'transformative', especially for the most vulnerable populations or those with difficulties in complying with daily oral PrEP.

"The choice is you": the new campaign for those living with HIV

World AIDS Day also sees the launch of 'Choose You = The Choice is You', the campaign by Gilead Sciences - with the sponsorship of 17 patient associations - aimed at people living with HIV.

The campaign promotes an awareness: listen to each other, talk about it, start or optimise treatment now, working on quality of life, not only on controlling the virus. It is also a message to fight stigma and self-stigma, reinforced by the U=U principle (Undetectable = Untransmittable): those who take the therapy correctly and keep the viral load undetectable do not transmit the virus.

Daria, Salvio, Nicoletta and Sandro - the four protagonists of the campaign - tell their stories of everyday life, trust and self-determination: 'I choose my family. I choose not to be ashamed. I choose the life I am building for myself'.

World AIDS Day 2025 therefore comes with lights and shadows: scientific progress is extraordinary, but the Italian reality is still marked by late diagnosis, stigma and a poor testing culture.

As Anlaids reminds us, the future of HIV depends on a change in the collective mindset: testing is not taboo, but a prevention and public health tool, as much as new therapies and twice-yearly PrEP.