The number of AIDS sufferers remains high in Europe; last year, the number of infections increased by 8%. – according to the report published on Wednesday by the WHO and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
In Europe and adjacent countries that make up the WHO European region, there were about 131 jobs last year. new infections, which means an increase by 10, i.e. by 8%. compared to the previous year.
Less than half, 55,5 thousand. infections were reported by 51 out of 53 countries in the region, of which over 29 EU and European Economic Area (EEA) countries, and nearly 76 thousand – Statistical Bureau.
The rate of diagnosed new HIV infections was generally 7,8 per 100. inhabitants in the European WHO region, and in the EU and EEA – 5,8, with the highest – 22 – in the east of the WHO European region, while for its western part it is 6,6, and for its center – only 1,9 – introduces the WHO and ECDC report.
The ways in which infections spread are also geographically different: in the WHO European region, heterosexual relationships remain the main route, in the EU and EEA – relationships between homosexual men, and in the eastern part of the WHO European region, the use of syringes by drug addicts plays an important role in the spread of HIV.
The high and growing number of AIDS cases in the East (in Eastern Europe and Central Asia) indicates late diagnosis of HIV infection, low coverage and delayed initiation of life-saving treatment, the ECDC and WHO report on a joint report.
While the number of AIDS cases in Western Europe is steadily declining – by 48 percent. between 2006 and 2012, in the eastern part of the WHO European region, which includes many post-Soviet Asian republics, it increased by 113%.
According to WHO data, in 2011 there were 730 people living in Our Country. to 1,3 million people infected with the virus, while in 2001 their number was 510-790 thousand.
In Poland, the number of people with HIV increased from 24 according to WHO. (18-32 thousand) in 2001 to 35 thousand. (28-46 thousand) in 2011.
The percentage of people aged 15-14 who have been diagnosed with HIV in Poland is above the EU and EEA average of over 10% and amounts to approx. 14%, which is the sixth place among the countries with the highest percentage infections in this age group in the region. The highest number of new infections in this group occurred in Romania – approx. 32%.
In 2012, the dominant mode of HIV spread in an increasing number of countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Hungary, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia was sexual intercourse between homosexual men, while in Albania, Montenegro and Turkey were thus heterosexual, the report said.
According to experts, the increase in infections is closely related to the lack of preventive measures in high-risk groups. These include needles and syringes for drug addicts, free condoms, and the easy availability of HIV testing among prostitutes and homosexuals, and early access to antiretroviral treatment for those who have tested positive for the virus.
Our data shows that almost every person with HIV in the test – that is 49 percent. “It is diagnosed late in the infection, meaning these people need antiretroviral treatment very quickly because their immune systems are already failing,” said ECDC director Marc Sprenger.
There are 35 million HIV-positive people worldwide, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, where prevention, testing and drugs are often poorly available due to lack of funding.
But even in the relatively prosperous European region of WHO, only one in three HIV positive people receives the treatment they need, the report said.
Michel Kazatchkine, the United Nations Special Envoy on HIV / AIDS for Eastern Europe, said this month in an interview with Reuters that the HIV epidemic is increasingly concentrated in marginalized groups – sex workers, drug addicts and homosexuals – and may not give in to a global efforts to combat AIDS.
Sunday is World AIDS Day. (PAP)