Plagues,
Pestilences and Diseases
HIV/AIDS rapidly on rise in ex-communist countries, AIDS
experts warn
by Staff Writers
Tallinn (AFP) May 27, 2011
More must be done to stem HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe, as
infections continue to spiral in nations in the region, notably
Russia, experts warned on Friday.
"Western Europe, including southern states like Portugal that used
to cause a lot of worry on HIV years ago, have been showing to
world that prevention is possible," Danish specialist Jens
Lundgren told the wrap-up session of a three-day conference in the
Estonian capital Tallinn.
"But in eastern Europe the epidemic keeps spreading," he warned an
audience of 500 fellow experts.
"We need more testing that will help to limit the spread of HIV
and will also help those with the virus to get proper treatment in
time," he added.
United Nations figures show that Eastern Europe and Central Asia
is the only region where the incidence of HIV clearly remains on
the rise.
According to the World Health Organisation, there were over
100,000 new infections in the region in 2008.
The annual number of reported new cases is relatively stable in
the West with around 20 000 cases annually, but volatile and
increasing in the East with four times more new cases diagnosed
annually.
The number of people living with HIV in the region almost tripled
between 2000 and 2009, hitting an estimated 1.4 million, according
to data from UNAIDS.
Russia and Ukraine accounted for nearly 90 percent of
newly-reported HIV infections. In Russia, 37 percent of the
country's 1.8 million injecting drug users are living with HIV.
"More independent academic research is needed to get proper data
that states might not always wish to give, for example in Russia
where the HIV epidemic is totally out of control," Pauli Leinikki,
of the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, told the
conference.
"Efficient tools existing to stop the spread of HIV have been the
same for a long time, such as antiretroviral treatment, needle
exchange programmes, or opioid substitution therapy, but only with
more political will these can be implemented efficiently enough,"
Leinikki added.
Worldwide, there are 33.3 million people living with HIV,
including 22.5 million in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNAIDS.