Commemoration of the Special Issue on HIV/AIDS in “Public Health Weekly Report”

Since the first case of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was reported in the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1985, national human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS surveillance has been strengthened through the use of case notification data, health care utilization records, and mortality statistics. Epidemiologic investigations and research have been conducted in community, population-based, and clinical settings as needed. These efforts have informed the development and implementation of programs supporting the treatment and care of persons living with HIV, as well as the establishment of systematic, national-level HIV/AIDS prevention and control strategies [1].

This special issue of the Public Health Weekly Report (PHWR) was developed to describe the current status of HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities in the ROK and to summarize recent evidence and ongoing discussions. The issue presents the status of HIV/AIDS incidence and disease burden for 2023, based on linked analyses of HIV/AIDS case notification data, National Health Insurance claims data, and cause-of-death statistics. In addition, it summarizes current prevention and treatment strategies and presents findings from the Korean HIV/AIDS Cohort Study. The issue also describes the implementation of the National HIV/AIDS prevention and control programs and the development and use of the HIV/AIDS Supporting Network System, and identifies key challenges to inform future policy and programmatic efforts. These findings are intended to support evidence-based decision-making by researchers, practitioners, and policymakers [2-8].

Since its launch in 2008, PHWR has published 67 HIV/AIDS–related articles over a 17-year period.

Of these, 27 (40.3%) focused on surveillance/survey reports, including reports on the epidemiology of persons living with HIV, HIV screening test results, and notification trends.

Nine articles examined analytic topics, including HIV epidemic patterns, timing of diagnosis, and development of surveillance indicator.

Sixteen articles were review & perspective articles, addressing topics such as antiretroviral drug development and international cohort studies. Fewer HIV/AIDS–related articles were published during 2020–2024, likely reflecting the prioritization of coronavirus disease 2019-related research during that period.

Increased publication of HIV/AIDS research findings could strengthen the evidence base for prevention and control efforts and contribute to achieving the goal of the “Second National Action Plan on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control (2024–2028)” to reduce new HIV infections by 50% by 2030 compared with 2023 (Table 1) [1].

Table 1. Type and number of HIV/AIDS-related manuscripts in “Public Health Weekly Report”.

Article type	2008–2014	2015–2019	2020–2024	Total
Surveillance/survey report	9	8	10	27
Original article	6	3	0	9
Review & perspective	11	5	0	16
Policy note	1	1	1	3
Public health issue	7	2	3	12
Total	34	19	14	67

Unit: article. HIV/AIDS=human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

As Editor-in-Chief, sincere appreciation is extended to the authors for their valuable contributions to this special issue, to the members of the editorial board and the peer reviewers for their thoughtful and rigorous review of the manuscripts, and to the editorial office staff for their continued dedication throughout the editorial and publication process.

Bo Youl Choi

Editor-in-Chief