The number of newly reported HIV infection reached a record high of 513 cases in 2012. Sexual transmission remained the major route of HIV transmission in Hong Kong, while the transmission from other routes including perinatal transmission and drug injection have been kept at a relatively low level. Overall, Hong Kong is still enjoying a low level of HIV infection.
The HIV surveillance system in Hong Kong comprises 5 main programmes to provide a detailed description of the local HIV/AIDS situation. They are (a) voluntary HIV/AIDS case-based reporting; (b) HIV prevalence surveys; (c) sexually transmitted infections (STI) caseload statistics; (d) behavioral studies; and (e) HIV-1 genotyping studies. The data is collected, analyzed and disseminated regularly by the surveillance team of Special Preventive Programme (SPP), Centre for Health Protection (CHP), Department of Health (DH). At present, the latest HIV/AIDS statistics are released at quarterly intervals at press media briefings and in electronic format (http://www.aids.gov.hk). Data from various sources are compiled annually and released in this report.