Ukraine: General Situation, statistics, discrimination, tolerance level

none 04 Déc 2006 – 15:17 (modified on 04 Déc 2006 – 15:20)

by mlepeska

According to the estimates HIV prevalence among adults in Ukraine composes 1.4%. Considering this indicator, the Ukraine is the most HIV affected country in Europe. The current situation with HIV/AIDS in Ukraine has been characterized by AIDS professionals as a threat in causing social, economic and demographic collapse. Ukraine is the leader among all the former Soviet republics in the number of HIV-infected persons, at 377, 000. During the last 5 years HIV prevalence rate increased more than 20 times.

HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Ukraine keeps growing. Up to 70% of all the infected persons are persons of reproductive age. An epidemic situation analyses proved that HIV/AIDS epidemic became a threat to national security of the state.

In accordance with the official statistical data published by UNAIDS in November of 2006, the total number of new HIV cases constituted 114,232 including 98,674 adults and 15,558 children. AIDS morbidity trends among adults and children are growing. Currently 20,201 adult AIDS patients and 641 children live in Ukraine. Due to insufficient state funding of HAART 11,542 persons died of AIDS including 243 children.

The majority of HIV-positive in Ukraine are reproductive age youth (20-39 y.o.). Sexual transmission rates are becoming an important factor of the epidemic development in Ukraine. At the same time injecting drug use remains an important factor of the epidemic, especially in the East and South of the country. As in other countries of the region, a great number (80%) of HIV-infected injecting drug users are youth under 30 years old. According to the survey data conducted in Kiev, Odessa, Donetsk, 28% of these drug users are women.

Ten years ago Ukraine had a chance to remain a country with a low level of HIV prevalence, at that time only single cases of infection were encountered. There are particular reasons that have caused the current situation with HIV/AIDS, namely a lack of a comprehensive system of condom use among youth and teenagers; a lack of coordination between governmental bodies concerning prevention of drug/alcohol use and HIV/AIDS; a lack of qualified professionals on the issues of prevention in the educational sector, centers of social services for youth, health care facilities; changes in the traditional family, spiritual and moral values in parts of the society; aggressive advertising of alcohol and tobacco; and excessive and outward demonstration of sexual relations by means of mass media, etc.

Current prevalence rate of the epidemic may lead to such medical, psychological, demographic consequences which will cause a serious social-political crisis in the country. A rapid growth of new cases of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases make for the necessity of effective measures aimed at stopping such a trend. According to a pessimistic scenario of the epidemic development in the nearest future the society will be divided into two groups by the only criteria – healthy or HIV-infected.

Public Opinion related to HIV/AIDS. Tolerance level.

Our society is not quite ready to accept HIV/AIDS problem in general, not mentioning HIV-positive people. People fear the problem. However there are positive changes, in particular, young people are aware of the problem as a whole, about ways of HIV transmission. According to young people they realize that there are HIV-positive people among them and they are ready to communicate with them without rejection. But, unfortunately, older people, who are involved in decision-making treat HIV-positive very aggressively. Therefore the level of tolerance in Ukraine remains low.

Discrimination of PLWHA

On the national level HIV-positive are discriminated by health care workers most of all. Not all health care workers are informed about the main aspects of HIV/AIDS, some of them lack the knowledge regarding transmission or information, of example about how HIV-positive woman to have a non-infected child. This is especially the case when it concerns health care workers from rural areas. Very often HIV-positive people die because they were refused in medical care. Discrimination of HIV-positive children or children born to HIV-positive mothers often takes place. While they are sometimes denied medical treatment, many times these children are denied the right be placed in schools, beginning in kindergarten. This problem concerns not only HIV-positive children, but also children born to HIV-positive mothers.

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