ECDC: Europe Falling Short of 2025 Goals on HIV, Hepatitis, STIs

Last updated Apr 23, 2025

Hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like syphilis and gonorrhoea continue to present significant challenges for healthcare systems across Europe, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

A new report from the ECDC reveals that many countries are either at risk of failing to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 or lack the necessary data to assess their progress. These global goals aim to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all people, at all ages, by 2030.

Despite being preventable, these diseases still result in widespread illness and cause nearly 57,000 deaths each year within the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). Efforts to eliminate the AIDS and TB epidemics and combat viral hepatitis are part of the broader SDG health targets.

The ECDC, headquartered in Stockholm, assessed how well European nations are progressing toward their interim goals set for 2025. According to ECDC Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner, “These diseases are preventable, as is the burden they place on health systems, patients, and families. We have five years to act; we must make them count.”

The report notes a decline in the estimated incidence of HIV and TB during the review period, although levels remain above the 2025 targets. In contrast, while there is no incidence data for viral hepatitis and STIs, diagnoses of gonorrhoea, syphilis, and acute hepatitis B have risen in several EU and EEA countries. Gonorrhoea, in particular, has seen the highest number of new cases reported since 2009.

Although some progress has been made in disease prevention, the 2025 targets have largely not been met. Key prevention strategies include condom use, needle exchange programmes, hepatitis B vaccinations, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for those at higher risk of contracting HIV.

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