Despite major strides in global HIV prevention and treatment, development imbalances and gender disparities continue to shape the epidemic's burden worldwide. This study aimed to examine the associations between development indicators - including the Human Development Index (HDI), Gender Inequality Index (GII), Life Expectancy at Birth (LEaB), and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) - and HIV epidemiological measures (incidence, prevalence, mortality, and antiretroviral therapy ART coverage). HIV-related data for 2023 were obtained from the UNAIDS database. Countries with missing data were excluded. Relationships between development indicators and HIV metrics were analyzed using Spearman's correlation and univariable linear regression. Among 129 countries, GII correlated positively with HIV incidence (r = 0.53), prevalence (r = 0.49), and mortality (r = 0.64) (p List of Abbreviations: HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; AIDS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; ART, Antiretroviral Therapy; PLWH, People Living With HIV; HDI, Human Development Index; CHDI, Composite Human Development Index; GDI, Gender Development Index; GII, Gender Inequality Index; LEaB, Life Expectancy at Birth; UHC, Universal Health Coverage; UNAIDS, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; UNDP, United Nations Development Programme; WJP, World Justice Project; FI, Freedom Index; DI, Democracy Index; CHE, Current Health Expenditure.
Korkmaz et al. (Wed,) studied this question.