7,000 people become HIV infected daily worldwide.
Michel Sidibe, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS: HIV claims 7,000 lives daily.
HIV epidemic is decreasing in the world. While 5 years ago the number of people living with HIV/AIDS amounted to 39 million, now this figure equals to 33 million.
-The situation is positive, but it should not give us a reason for tranquility, -says Michele Sidibe, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS.- Testing still reveals a large number of new cases of HIV. The virus strikes 7,000 people in the world daily. Also daily we register 6,000 new deaths of AIDS. For this reason, one can say that this is the most important social, economic and political issue in the world. It is comforting to know that the number of people who have access to medical assistance is growing. While 3-4 years ago their number amounted to 500,000, now we can speak of 3 million. 7 million of HIV infected need treatment.
-In view of this can one speak of a breakthrough in organization of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment?
-Unfortunately, not. In many countries prevention indicators are waning. In Uganda and Thailand authorities managed to build such a model of HIV prevention that the number of new HIV cases is decreasing. I would like to point out that the system of informing public on the ways of infection transmission has been significantly improved. Specialists who monitor the spread of HIV/AIDS and inform governments and public on it work in 80 countries.
-How wide-spread globally is the system of voluntary HIV testing for public?
-Virtually in all countries this system exists on a voluntary basis. A few years ago there were just a hundred facilities for HIV/AIDS express testing. Now there are about 2000 facilities. However, this is not enough.
-What is the situation like with the spread of HIV in Russia?
-In the past 3-4 years there is a breakthrough in HIV response in Russia. Russia raised the issue of HIV response two years ago at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg. At the same time a range of recommendations on HIV response was compiled. Russian authorities decided to allocate 2 billion dollars for a three year programme of HIV response. As a result, the number of people receiving therapeutic treatment has increased from 15,000 to 30,000. Currently, nine of ten women take part in PMTCT prevention programmes. 20 million people gained access to voluntary HIV testing. However, I would not like you to have an impression based on my statements that the situation with HIV in Russia is unclouded. According to our data, from 900,000 to 1,5 million people in your country live with HIV. According to the Federal Surveillance Service Over Customer Rights’ Protection and Human Well-Being, this figure totals to 410,000. Almost 80% of HIV positive are young people aged from 15 to 29. 44% of new HIV cases last year were among women. This means that the virus is actively moving into a new generation and we are facing feminization of the epidemic. Our goal is to work with youth to raise its level of awareness on HIV so that they are able to protect themselves and their sexual partners.
-How does UNAIDS support measures of HIV response in Russia?
-UNAIDS provides support in monitoring and evaluation of the epidemic in Russia. UNAIDS specialists also organize trainings for Russian health care professionals working in the area of HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS actively assists the work of NGOs dealing with HIV prevention and support to PLWH. The first all Russian conference “Civil Society in Response to HIV/AIDS: successes, challenges, perspectives” took place under the auspices of UNAIDS in Moscow at the end of January. Over 200 representatives of NGOs from all Russian regions participated in it. The second Eastern European and Central Asian AIDS Conference which 2000 doctors, scientists, civil society representatives will attend will be held in Moscow in May.
-Does UNAIDS allocate funds to support Russian prevention programmes?
-UNAIDS is not a funding organization. We are a catalyst helping states and public organizations to develop an action strategy. We also involve large finance banks and companies in allocating funds for HIV prevention and harm reduction programmes.
-What do you think of the system of voluntary testing which is being introduced by some enterprises now?
-Voluntary testing is a very important element of prevention work. Not knowing one’s HIV status is the key challenge of the epidemic today. Only 10% of HIV positive people knew their status prior to seeing a doctor and having a test. In conjunction with this, voluntary testing will help people to reveal their status and start treatment.
In the past few years 20-23 million people underwent HIV testing. It had provided us with information which led us to introduce prevention programmes and provision of medical treatment for HIV positive people.
- Information from Vechernya Moskva
- 410,000 HIV positive people are registered in Russia. 2,600 out of them are children. 1,200 out of these children were born of HIV positive mothers. 40,000 new HIV cases have been revealed in the past 2 years. (80,000 new HIV cases were revealed in 1999-2002).
- The most disease-stricken Russian region is Irkutsk region-620 cases for 100,000 of population.
- 23 million people were tested by medical laboratories last year, mostly injective drug users.
- 7,000 new HIV cases are registered in the world daily.
- 6,000 people die of HIV and co-infections in the world daily.
A list of HIV/AIDS services and centers is included.
