| PIP: HIV infection
rates in Russia and Ukraine have reached levels which confirm that the
two countries are currently experiencing an HIV/AIDS epidemic. Other countries
of the former Soviet Union have seriously high infection rates. For example,
in 1997, the UN estimated that there were 100,000 new HIV infections in
Eastern Europe. According to Ukraine government HIV testing figures, from
1987 through 1994, only 398 of more than 39 million HIV tests yielded positive
results. However, in 1995, 1499 of 3,515,197 tests performed were seropositive.
Of 2,867,049 tests performed in 1996, 11,150 were HIV-seropositive. 5244
IV drug users and 1887 prisoners were among those who tested positive in
1996. Of 255,122 STD patients tested in 1996, 3.7% were HIV-positive, with
rates highest in the Mykolayiv region (22.7%), Odessa (13.3%), and Kiev
(5.8%). Urgent measures need to be taken to check the spread of HIV in
the Newly Independent States. In describing AIDS and STDs in the region,
the author draws from UN statistics, news stories, the government of Ukraine,
and his personal experience developing a social marketing project in Odessa,
Ukraine. He also notes the efforts of the Futures Group in Odessa.
PMID: 12294112 [PubMed - indexed
for MEDLINE] |