How is HIV transmitted?

In most cases, HIV is caused by having sex with a HIV+ person without using a condom.

Shared needles and injection drug use is the second most common route of infection.The virus can also spread from an infected mother to her newborn.

HIV is not spread by:

HIV does not survive long outside the human body (such as on surfaces), and it cannot reproduce outside a human host.

The African region accounts for over two thirds of the global total of new HIV infections, with 25.7 million people living with HIV in 2017.

Source: World Health Organization

Some groups of people are more likely to get HIV than others because of risk behaviors and conditions such as:

Having unprotected anal or vaginal sex.
Having another sexually transmitted infection such as syphilis, herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea and bacterial vaginosis.
Sharing contaminated needles, syringes and other injecting equipment and drug solutions when injecting drugs.
Receiving unsafe injections, blood transfusions, tissue transplantation, medical procedures that involve unsterile cutting or piercing.
Experiencing accidental needle stick injuries, including among health workers.