[HIV/AIDS Notifications in Korea, 2022]

In this report, we described the major results of the HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome) cases reported in 2022, based on the '2022 HIV/AIDS Annual Report' published in June 2023. The report stated that in 2022, 1,066 people in the Republic of Korea, were classed with newly detected cases of HIV infection. Among them, 825 cases (77.4%) were Koreans and 241 cases (22.6%) were foreigners. Approximately 92.3% of all cases (984 cases) were men. The proportion of newly detected HIV cases from 20 years old to 39 years old was 66.4%. Among all cases: 30-39 years old age group was 34.9% (372 cases), 20-29 years old group was 31.5% (336 cases), and 40-49 years old group was 16.4% (175 cases) of all cases. There were 761 cases (71.4%) detected in hospitals and 206 cases (19.3%) detected in public health centers. The most common reason for undergoing an HIV test was to confirm the cause of a voluntary physical examination (221 cases, 28.3%). Almost all cases (99.1%, 577 cases) answered their route of transmission was a sexual contact. New HIV infection cases in 2022 increased by 9.3% compared to the cases in 2021. During coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19), most of the public health centers had to stop their HIV testing, reassigning their manpower to cope with COVID-19 epidemic in the community. HIV detection increased due to the effects of resumption from the second half of 2022.