Brazil is successfully reducing AIDS deaths, but number of cases increases

Over the past 30 years, Brazil has established itself as a reference around the world in the treatment of AIDS. Since 1996, the country’s public healthcare system has offered free treatment to all HIV-positive patients, which has helped dramatically reduce the mortality rates among people infected. But where Brazil fails is in preventing new cases, as roughly 40,000 people get infected by the HIV virus each year.

The Ministry of Health estimates that 866,000 people live with the AIDS virus in Brazil—of which 731,000 have already been diagnosed. By September 2018, 585,000 had undergone treatment and received anti-retroviral medication by way of the public healthcare system. In 2018, the country invested BRL 1.7 billion in the Department of HIV-AIDS, a budget funded entirely by the federal government.

Richard Parker, who heads the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA), worries that the number of infections may spike in the next few years, due to the future administration’s unwillingness to allow schools to deal with sexuality and disease prevention. Luiz...