MOSCOW, May 2, 2008 (AFP) - A real opportunity exists to curb the AIDS epidemic in eastern Europe and central Asia provided current progress can be stepped up and kept up, a top United Nations official predicted here Friday.
"The region has all the necessary human intellectual and infrastructures assets to make this a success," said Peter Piot, executive director of the UN AIDS panel UNAIDS and UN assistant secretary general, speaking on the eve of an AIDS conference in Moscow.
"I think it's fair to say that in this region we're at a critical turning point," he said speaking during a telephone conference. "If current progress can be accelerated and sustained, there is a real chance to stop HIV," the virus that causes AIDS.
However he warned: "Looking at the epidemics it's clear that we are still in a very dynamic phase of the epidemic."
Some 1.6 million people in the region are HIV-positive, 150 percent more than in 2001, the official noted.
However there had been a slowdown in some countries, with a rate of infection of 150,000 last year compared to 210,000 in 2001.
People under 30 were affected disproportionately representing three-quarters of sufferers.
"It's not only a young epidemic, it's also an epidemic of the young," he observed.
Another new trend was the increase in women with HIV, representing 40 percent of new cases. In Moldova the figure was 62 percent, which Piot described as unprecedented outside Africa.
Prevention programmes had to be better targeted in future, said the official, noting that caused difficulties in some countries such as Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan where homosexuality was illegal.
The second conference on AIDS in eastern Europe and central Asia, organised by the UN, the International AIDS Society, the World Fund for the Struggle against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Russian authorities, was set to last till Monday, with 2,000 delegates attending.
080502
AF080502
Copyright ©AFP 2008. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics. http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Gill Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Quest Diagnostics, Roche and Trimeris, and donations from users like you.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. This article first appeared in 2008. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 2008. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.