PRESS RELEASE

*Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support  requires urgent actions by governments and civil society in Europe and Central Asia

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*March 16, 2011, Kiev, Ukraine *- The rise of new HIV infections and the decrease of prevention programs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, put at risk the achievements of the countries' commitments to Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. This demands immediate and joint actions by Governments, civil society and international organizations.

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Representatives from governments s and civil society from around 30 countries across Europe and Central Asia have converged in Ukraine to discuss the gaps in the region's response to HIV and identify key priorities for future action.

"Universal Access has not yet been achieved in Europe and Central Asia, in spite of significant efforts,"- said Dr. Denis Broun, UNAIDS Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.

"We have a chance to re-energize the AIDS response in the region and reach the goals of Universal Access by boosting regional cooperation and strengthening partnerships--of governments, networks of people living with HIV, civil society and organizations committed to the HIV response".

The region of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is the only one in the world where the HIV epidemic is on the rise. An estimated 2.2 million people live with HIV in ECA today, more than twice the number reported in 2000.

HIV represents a significant challenge for the entire region, and not only Eastern Europe where more than 56,000 new cases were registered in Russia alone and close to 20,000 in Ukraine. In 2010, over 6,700 new infections were reported in the United Kingdom, around 5,000 in France, over 3,000 in Germany.

In the whole region, some groups are more at risk of HIV infection then others and require specific prevention measures. Drug users, men who have sex with men, prisoners and sex workers need to receive targeted prevention programmes to avoid being infected with HIV, but these programmes are still broadly insufficient in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and they are not scaled up.

"Your region has done well in stopping babies from being born with HIV. You should be the first region in the world to declare that you eliminate transmission from mother to child by 2015", - said Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS Executive Director in his address to participants.

"Now we must apply the same energy to stop HIV among injecting drug users and their partners. We can do this by embracing scientific evidence, adopting good laws and preventing stigma and discrimination. We cannot do this without harm reduction and substitution therapy that need to be scaled-up in the region."

Although drug use remains the predominant mode of HIV transmission, especially in Eastern Europe, sexual transmission increases, illustrating the lack of sufficient programmes of information towards young people, awareness and promotion of condoms  - which are the only efficient mechanism to prevent sexual transmission of HIV. The efforts for information and public awareness are still insufficient, many people at high risk of HIV infection do not get tested and one third of patients only learn about their HIV status, when they become sick.

As a result, the proportion of women among people living with HIV is increasing, in particular in Ukraine and Russia.  Two thirds of women found HIV positive in 2010 in Russia were infected through sexual contact. Often, women are infected by their husbands, and first learn of their HIV-positive status during pregnancy.

Universal Access to treatment is crucial, as antiretroviral therapy not only ensures that patients live a normal life with HIV, but also helps reduce the risk of transmission from them to others. Access to early treatment for people living with HIV in the region remains much lower than it should be - about one forth of those who need treatment receive it today in Eastern Europe.

Access to treatment is better in Western Europe, but resistant strains of the HIV virus require second and third line medicines. To reduce treatment costs, cheaper medicines and high quality generic products are required in the whole region.

There is still the need to increase efforts to prevent people living with HIV from dying of tuberculosis, which remains their main cause of death in Eastern Europe.

HIV related travel restrictions, criminalisation of drug use, criminalization of homosexual relations, criminalization of transmission of HIV and repressive police practices exist in many countries of  Europe and Central Asia and represent a significant barrier to establishing relationships of trust with at-risk groups. It has been proven in many countries that such approaches complicate the overall response to the epidemic as they tend to push the most-at-risk groups "underground" and reduce effective prevention.

The recommendations, developed by the Participants of the Consultations, will be reflected upon in the Report on Universal Access that will be presented at the High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York in June, 2011, as well as included in the Action Plan for HIV/AIDS in the WHO European Region 2012-2015.

"The HIV situation in the region is critical. By contributing to recommendations at  the point of time when they are being developed,  we have a chance to change it for the better." -  said Vladimir Zhovtyak, Head of the Eastern European and Central Asia Network of People Living with HIV.

This year, the world commemorates 30 years of AIDS and response to HIV. The world leaders who will gather for the High-Level Meeting in June, 2011, will give the European region a historical chance to renew the commitment of its political leadership to achieve Universal Access targets.

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Best regards,

Sergey Golovin

Public Relations Officer

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+7953 345 9890

Skype: sergej.golovin

С уважением,

Сергей Головин,

Специалист по связям с общественностью

Международной коалиции по готовности к лечению в Восточной Европе и Центральной Азии