Investigators have announced that Sweden is the first country in the world to hit a UNAIDS/World Health Organization (WHO) target of 90-90-90 with regards to HIV.

The target was first set in 2014 the health agencies. It aims for 90% of a country’s HIV Positive population being diagnosed, with at least 90% of those testing positive being on treatment and at least 90% of them having a virtually undetectable viral load after six months of therapy.

In Sweden, at the end of 2015, it’s believed that 90% of all those who are HIV positive have been diagnosed: 99.8% of them are on treatment, and 95% of those who have been treated for at least six months have a viral load below 50 copies/ml. The results were published in HIV Medicine.

By comparison, in the UK, it’s estimated that around 25% of those who are HIV positive are undiagnosed and unaware of their status.

Why is this 90-90-90 target important? Because if you are HIV positive and on treatment and have an undetectable viral load, it’s believed to be virtually impossible to pass on the virus.

Researcher believe that if a country hits the 90-90-90 target, then at least 73% of all people with HIV have viral suppression – a big enough proportion to have a major impact on HIV infections and related mortality.

It’s been noted that when a large proportion of a population are diagnosed and on treatment, infections rates fall.

A recent study of condomless sex between sero-discordant couples (where one is positive and on treatment – and one is negative) was unable to identify one incidence of infection over approximately 40,000 incidents of sex.

In San Francisco, it was announced earlier this month that the number of new HIV infections had fallen annually by around a third between 2013-2015.

Researchers say this is largely down to more people being tested and on treatment, and many HIV negative people taking Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis treatments (PrEP).

‘We believe that Sweden is the first country to achieve the UNAIDS/WHO 90-90-90 goal’

‘We believe that Sweden is the first country to achieve the UNAIDS/WHO 90-90-90 goal,’ said investigators in the HIV Medicine report.

They do point out that there are contributing factors to Sweden successfully hitting the target. It’s HIV population is relatively low (around 6,500 from a population of 9.5million), there’s free healthcare and immediate access to treatment for all those diagnosed with HIV.

There is also legislation that obliges laboratories and clinicians to report new HIV cases – ensuring patients are monitored and encouraged to keep follow-up appointments.

US-based gay men’s health nonprofit GMHC told GSN that it congratulated Sweden on the result.

‘By diagnosing patients with HIV, linking nearly all of them to care, and maintaining a high viral suppression, Sweden has set the standard of success for countries around the world in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.’ said GMHC CEO Kelsey Louie.

‘We have managed to achieve an impressive statistic of 90% viral suppression among people who test positive at our testing center. We will be fighting to improve this rate within our own organization and across New York State.

‘But it will take more than just our own advocacy and services to accomplish the precedent set by Sweden. We need a nationwide commitment to maintaining affordable medication for all, supportive and accessible housing, and the political will and determination from our leaders to end the epidemic once and for all in this country.’