Roundtable on HIV/AIDS and Drug Addiction

Vinami Lakumalani reported that such events have already taken place in the regions most at risk of HIV infection over the past year, and Chernihiv region, together with Kirovohrad and Transcarpathia, is completing this all-Ukrainian educational project.

The figures she cited, characterizing the dynamics of the spread of AIDS, are truly impressive. Today, there are about 40 million HIV-infected people in the world, of which 37.2 million are adults, 2.2 million are children. Among adults, 17.6 million are women. Ten years ago, the proportion was as follows: 80% – men, 20

%

– women. In 5-10 years, if the current trend continues, we will have a 50/50 ratio, which is extremely dangerous, because a woman is likely to transmit the disease to her child, so the number of children who have contracted the disease from their mothers will increase.

In Ukraine, the situation is as follows: From 1987 to the present, 80,163 people have been officially registered as HIV carriers; of these, 10,352 have AIDS; 6,182 have died during this time.

Among the reasons are 60.5% drug use; 24.5% sexually transmitted infection; 8% children who have contracted the disease from their mothers.

In January-May, 5,280 new cases of HIV infection were registered in Ukraine, of which 1,434 were diagnosed with AIDS. 816 people died. In May alone, 1,037 new cases were registered. Of these, 466 were due to drugs, 346 were sexually transmitted, and 194 were transmitted from mother to child. Thus, we see that if at the beginning of this disaster in the 1990s, 90% of those affected were male drug addicts, now the sexual route and transmission of the virus at birth account for a share that outweighs the infectious route of infection. According to WHO data, the real number of people affected by AIDS in Ukraine is 400-500 thousand, which is 1.5% of the population. (In India, there are 5 million people affected by AIDS per 1 billion population). The frightening trend is that the population group of productive and reproductive age is affected. If we add to AIDS tuberculosis, for which Ukraine took 1st place in Europe, trafficking in women, legal and illegal migration from Ukraine, then with the existing trend we risk getting a big minus in the population.

Discussing this acute problem for Ukraine, the participants identified the reasons (including social ones) that contribute to the spread of drug addiction and AIDS. Broad public support for educational work was proposed, the issue of a thoroughly developed scheme of comprehensive sexual and medical education of parents and children, starting from kindergartens and within the school curriculum, was raised. The need for a state program aimed at supporting social advertising and promoting a healthy lifestyle was emphasized. An important factor in the fight against AIDS, according to those present, should be a change in attitude towards the problem. AIDS patients,

drug addicts are people who need to be understood, who need to be given a helping hand. This is the only way to break the terrible chain that holds Ukrainian society tightly today. Compassion and active assistance to people in trouble is the only way for us today.