15 July 2010

Sexual Contact now the Chief Cause of Ukraine's AIDS Epidemic

AFP

 
KIEV — "I am not a drug addict!" insisted Andri, 32, staring desperately at the walls of a clinic for people with HIV in Kiev.

The young father contracted HIV through a casual sexual relationship, like alarming numbers of others in a country where heterosexual transmission has overtaken drug abuse as the main cause of AIDS.

The trend has alarmed researchers, showing that the HIV epidemic in Ukraine has now moved out of the niche of intravenous drug users and into the heterosexual mainstream.

With an HIV prevalence rate of 1.11 percent among Ukraine's adult population as of 2009, the former Soviet republic is one of the states in Europe worst hit by the epidemic.

For years, the virus has been spread mainly in Ukraine by intravenous drug users but the trend has changed with startling speed.

Since 2008, more Ukrainians have been contracting HIV through heterosexual sex than through drug abuse. In 2009, 43 percent of Ukrainians infected with HIV caught the virus through heterosexual sex and 35 percent by drug injection.

Experts have warned that this means the epidemic risks no longer affecting mainly high-risk groups like drug users, prostitutes and homosexuals but the general population as a whole.

"There are already signs of a generalisation" with the HIV infection rate of pregnant women now standing at more than one percent in some regions, said Svitlana Antonyak, an official from the national HIV clinic.

"Two thirds of cases of sexual transmission are linked to intravenous drug use," said Tetyana Deshko of the Ukrainian branch of the NGO International HIV/AIDS alliance.

She described the typical path of transmission in today's Ukraine: "A drug user who probably does not know he is HIV positive has a relationship with a woman who probably does not know that her partner is a drug user."

Andri was infected with HIV during an adulterous relationship with a former lover who he suspects now is a drug addict.

"I saw the traces of injections on her arms but she said it was because she had just been to hospital," said Andri, who learned of his diagnosis at the start of the year.

He insists that he used a condom, but it broke. "I put another one on, and thought that it would do. It was stupid. Stupid!"

Almost half of Ukrainians between 25-49 who say they had more than one sexual partner in a year do not use condoms, said a national report compiled by the Ukrainian ministry of health for UNAIDS.

"A condom is often seen (in Ukraine) as a sign of not trusting your partner," said Tetyana Deshko. Moreover many in Ukraine still see AIDS as a problem affecting only disadvantaged groups."

"There's lack of information campaigns of good quality, capable of changing young people's behaviour," Antonyak said.

"My 20-year old son told me he always uses a condom because he was here, at the hospital, helped me and saw people suffering here. Probably that's what we need to do", she added.

Alarmingly "only one HIV victim in four" in Ukraine is actually aware that they have been infected, said the national report.

As of January, 101,000 Ukrainians were infected with HIV according to official figures but the real number is estimated at 360,000. The number of deaths from AIDS was 19,000 between 1987 and April.

However in a ray of hope, the use of antiretroviral therapy resulted in the first cut in the mortality rate from AIDS, of 2.6 percent, last year. Antiretrovirals were introduced to Ukraine only six years ago.

But funds are limited and at least 7,500 patients who need the drugs are not receiving them.

"We really need help from donors," said Svitlana Cherenko, head of the state committee for the fight against AIDS.

Ukraine already received 230 million dollars from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the years 2004-2012 and will this month put in a new request with the organisation for estimated 300 million dollars for 2012-2017.

1 comment:

  1. Am jonas kita Dr ASAKASUKU cure me of HSV-2 after i have lost my son. i was
    diagnosed with the herpes type 2 after doing colposcopy. It was extremely
    painful I got them around the inner part of my bum. i visited different
    hospital but they gave me list of drugs like acyclovir, Zovirax, and
    (valacyclovir)Valtrex which is very expensive to suppress symptom outbreak.
    It was more complicated when it was affecting my skin.I desperately look
    for solution browsing through the Internet searching for remedy on HSV-2
    and i saw comment of people talking about how Doctor ASAKASUKU cured them
    from different virus like, HIV< HPV>HSV. I Was scared because i never
    believed in the Internet but i was convince to give him a try because i was
    having no hope of been cured of HERPES. so i decided to contact him on his
    email that was listed on the comment and
    drasakasukuherbalsolutinhome@gmail.com
    drasakasukuherbalsolutionhome@gmail.com OR call him with +2348109543872 ) i
    searched his email on net and i saw a lot of people testifying about his
    goodness. when i contacted him he gave me hope and send a Herbal medicine
    to me that i took and it seriously worked for me, am a free person now
    without problem, the sores are gone HERPES result came out negative.
    Contact Dr ASAKASUKU now Via Email:drasakasukuherbalsolutionhome@gmail.com
    and OR call him with +2348109543872 to get all your problem solved and get
    your ex back. i wish every body can contact Dr ASAKASUKU to get all life
    problem solve.
    1)Sickness of any kind Like Stroke
    2)Help to CURE Hepatitis B, HIV/AIDs, CANCER and BIPOLAR, HERPES
    3)Divorce, Breakup problem and To Re-unit
    4)Pregnancy problem
    5)Financial problem and Job promotion
    6)To get a good and rich life partner
    7)To Lose at Least 21 lbs of Belly Fat in Just 7 days
    8)Drug Addict and Masturbation

    ReplyDelete