The COVID-19 epidemic and the conflict in Ukraine have further increased threats to the HIV response in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Due to the region’s expanding HIV incidence, several waves of migration, and refugee crises, urgent and significant efforts must be made to guarantee that everyone in need has access to vital HIV care, Relief Web reported.
During the report’s introduction in Almaty, Kazakhstan, officials and community groups from a number of regional nations addressed how to address these issues utilizing the recommendations of the new Global AIDS Report “In Danger.”
With 500,000 individuals passing through in the first few months, the Republic of Moldova had little time to prepare when the first wave of Ukrainian war refugees arrived.
According to the National Treatment Coordinator in the Republic of Moldova Svetlana Popovichi, in order to ensure that everyone has access to essential HIV care, the government created a legal framework that is unaffected by residency or the presence of valid identification.
Azamat Dysenov, Director of the Treatment Department of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Health, claims that all of the nation’s residents who are HIV-positive have access to antiretroviral medications. All Kazakhs have free access to treatment and preventative programs that are paid for by the state budget.
Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director and Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, stated that “stigma and discrimination against those who are HIV-positive and other vulnerable groups, which are getting worse during the humanitarian crisis, continue to be a major roadblock to an effective response to the HIV epidemic in this region.”
In 2021, 160,000 [130,000-180,000] persons in Eastern Europe and Central Asia contracted HIV for the first time, a 48% rise since 2010, according to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update: In Danger.
Despite increased access to HIV treatment and novel prevention strategies and controls for opportunistic infections, the number of AIDS-related fatalities in the region in 2021—44,000 [36,000-53,000]—will be 32% higher than in 2010.
Some 54% of new HIV diagnoses in the area in 2020, according to UNAIDS, were made at the late stage (CD4+ 350 cells), an increase of 10% from 2018.
