Overview
- Official 2024 data show 2,379 new HIV diagnoses nationwide with a persistently high share identified late, including 66% of heterosexual men, 61% of heterosexual women and 53% of men who have sex with men.
- Lombardy recorded 449 new cases in the last year and 60% were diagnosed late, with the highest incidence concentrated in the provinces of Milan, Florence and Rome.
- The median age at diagnosis has risen to about 41 years for men and women, while one in five new diagnoses occurs in people under 30.
- Clinicians urge sexually active people to test every one to two years, noting that late diagnosis worsens outcomes and sustains transmission, and 450 AIDS cases were recorded in 2024.
- PrEP is free in Italy and experts call for access beyond infectious-disease clinics, highlighting emerging long-acting injectable PrEP and ART and reaffirming U=U when viral load is durably suppressed.