Towards standardized definitions for monitoring the continuum of HIV care in Europe

The continuum of HIV care is a simple conceptual framework for monitoring HIV programmes, comprising a series of stages that people living with HIV (PLHIV) pass through to access antiretroviral treatment (ART) and achieve viral suppression [1,2]. Individual benefits of suppression include reduced risk of morbidity and mortality. At the population level, viral suppression reduces the risk of onward transmission and enables epidemic containment [3]. Transmission risk may be further reduced by lowering the number of undiagnosed PLHIV [4,5]. Complete continua are, therefore, constructed beginning with the total number of PLHIV in a given population and ending with the number virally suppressed. Intervening stages have included the numbers diagnosed, linked to HIV care, retained in care, eligible for ART, on ARTand adhering to ART. Although people can move between stages, the continuum is typically conceptualized as a ‘snapshot’ at one time-point.