Remarkable Progress: AIDS Mortality in São Paulo State Plummets by 77.7% from 1995 to 2021

In 1995, AIDS reached its highest level in the State of São Paulo. That year, 7,739 people died, 5,850 men and 1,889 women. Since then, the death rate from the disease has decreased. In 2021, there were 1,719 deaths, with 1,237 in the male population and 482 in the female population, representing a relative drop of 77.7% in fatalities.

Analysis

Deaths were always higher among men, with a sex ratio of six men for every woman in 1990. Over time, this ratio decreased and, in 2021, it reached 2.6. Furthermore, the average age at death has changed drastically. In the early 1990s, almost 90% of people who died from AIDS were under the age of 44. In 2021, this number decreased to 60%, indicating that the majority of those who died were over the age of 45.

According to research by the Seade Foundation, all regions of São Paulo showed a drop in AIDS mortality rates. In the State, for every 100 thousand inhabitants, there were 22.9 deaths in 1995 and 3.8 deaths in 2021. The introduction of new treatments and the improvement in the quality of life of those with the disease explain the positive changes that the State of São Paulo had in these almost three decades. 

The highest rates continue to be those in Baixada Santista, but the region continues in the same direction and at the same pace as the rest of the State. There were 43.5 deaths per 100 thousand, in 1995. And 6.8 deaths, in 2021.