WHET AIDS?

AIDS is mostly "over", but HIV is certainly not

Not over but greatly contained with no thanks to the federal government.

Depends on the country?

It hasn't gone anywhere

As R4, said, HIV has gone nowhere. We are still faced with 40,000 new diagnoses every year, and the virus is still eminently catchable and still just as deadly as it was 30 years ago unless you have the resources to go on the right meds. In the US, those meds without insurance will run you about $36000 a year and even while insurance will cover it presently, that insurance will run you at least $12000 a year if you can obtain coverage — and so long as you remain healthy. If your health declines (like, say, you do meth) that treatment cost balloons into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. IOW, the poor folks who seroconvert fight to stay alive and when the fight runs out, they die.

Science gave us a temporary solution to stop the mass death while we wait for a cure, and even made it possible for those who haven't seroconverted to remain negative. Meanwhile, the problem is that some GOP goon from Texas has filed suit to end compulsory PrEP coverage with all insurance coverage, which will mean that tens of thousands of sexually active gay men will no longer have the shield that PrEP provides, and the rates of seroconversion will skyrocket. (Recall, it was nearly impossible to get anyone to use a condom when it was known to be a deadly disease. Now that we've made the disease chronic but no longer a death sentence, it will be impossible to go back to condoms.) But that is the point of going after PrEP; they want to kill as many of us undesirables as they can, and as fast as they can. And when it comes to HIV, they can then turn around and point their short fingers at their victims and blame them for their illness.

No, it isn't over. And it is only a matter of time before the AIDS death rate is once again news.

HIV diagnoses are increasing in the UK, mainly due to African immigration. 2024 was the highest number of positive tests since 2009.

It'll be making a comeback soon!

We were headed towards ending the HIV epidemic in the US but Trump is signaling he will decrease funding drastically. Money has been targeted to groups areas that were seroconverting at high rates (like gay Black men in the South) with great success. Who knows now what the next years will bring

r5 There's a bit of misinformation in your post. If a person has insurance coverage through his job, his insurance will be no more than anyone else's if he is diagnosed with HIV. However, co-pays for meds will generally be the maximum copay allowed under the plan. (With many plans, that will be $60 for a 30-day supply of each med- many people take 2 or 3).

Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are not allowed to deny coverage for someone with HIV, nor can they charge that patient more than any other. However, it's possible that for someone who must use an exchange to get insurance because he doesn't have work coverage, he might have to opt for one of the more expensive plans to get all his meds covered. I'm not sure about that part.

AIDS agencies in larger states with larger gay populations are usually able to connect with resources that will pay for medications for the truly indigent. Or else they will get compassionate use donations from the drug companies.

That being said, HIV medications are quite expensive, and since the US govt has a long-standing policy of not trying to bargain down costs, they cost insurers a lot of money. (These drugs are not necessarily expensive to manufacture - it's just the old problem of big pharma being allowed to charge what the market will bear- and people who will die without access to medication are like shooting fish in a barrel for drug companies' pricing departments. )

HIV is now considered a chronic disease, controllable through medication, with many patients being able to have life-spans nearly comparable to non-infected individuals. But with the orange Cheetoh and RFK Jr fucking with health care, all bets are off the table now.

Prep has been a boon to gay white middle class men living in urban areas and their rates of infection have plummeted. Prep has not been as helpful to black and hispanic men living in the south, largely poor, who either don't have the information, or are too embarrassed to ask at a clinic.