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Eastern Europe and Central Asia are
home to the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic, due to punitive drug
policies, discrimination, and insufficient access to medicines and treatment,
according to global health experts.
World Health Organization data show
the region had 170,000 new HIV infections last year. New infections there have
risen 22 percent since 2005 and show no signs of slowing. Injecting drug use
accounts for 70 percent of new cases.
Russia and Ukraine are widely viewed
as the epidemic’s epicenter. Opiate-substitution therapy (OST), a standard
treatment provided to heroin users in much of the world, is illegal in Russia.
Although OST and needle-exchange
programs have ostensible government support in the Ukraine, “Physical and other
intimidation towards drug users is routine police practice,” said an in-country
spokesperson for the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. Further, the group
reports that the denial of antiretroviral treatment to infected drug users is a
“common problem.”
“In most post-Soviet countries,
where HIV remains concentrated among injecting drug users, harsh policies and
discrimination in health care settings continue to cripple the AIDS response,”
noted Daniel Wolfe, director of the International Harm Reduction Development Program
at the Open Society Foundations.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
