Twenty Seven Countries in Former Soviet Bloc Break Deadly Silence on Drug Use and AIDS

-- Largest Survey on AIDS Treatment Begins; Results to be Presented to World at International AIDS Conference in July--

May 31, Vilnius. Responding to staggering increases in HIV cases across the former Soviet bloc, a network of organizations is working to break a deadly silence on the question of HIV treatment and injection drug use. The Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction Network has sent surveys to more than a hundred and fifty organizations in twenty seven countries hoping to draw attention to discrimination and stigmatization directed at people infected with the virus. The results of the survey, which is the largest of its kind ever conducted in the region, will be presented to the world at the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain in July.

"For too long, we have talked about increases in HIV infections in the former Soviet bloc without addressing the fact that many people with HIV are regarded as disposable and denied even basic care," said Emilis Subata, MD, Coordinator of the Network and director of a Substance Abuse Treatment Center in Vilnius, Lithuania. "People say 'let drug users die,' without recognizing that AIDS will spread to all groups in the population, and that this shortsighted approach is condemning our whole region to death."

Central and Eastern Europe and Newly Independent States now experience a dramatic increase in AIDS, HIV and drug use cases. The number of reported HIV cases in the region increased from 30,000 in 1995 up to 700,000 in 2000, and by the end of 2001 a million people were thought to be infected in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The great majority of those-as many as 80 percent-are injection drug users, though the epidemic has already begun to move to the general population in countries like Ukraine. While HIV treatments are helping to prevent infections and extend life elsewhere, these treatments are often unavailable or intentionally denied to drug users in the former Soviet bloc.

The survey, which asks programs working with drug users and others with HIV to describe what kinds of treatment is available to their clients, is being conducted by the network with the support of organizations such as UN Drug Control Programme and the World Health Organization. The results will be presented at a special meeting at the Barcelona AIDS conference, which is the largest gathering of HIV experts in the world and a focus of major media from across the globe.

Meanwhile, AIDS continues to devastate the region. Last week alone, approximately 150 new HIV cases were diagnosed in Lithuania- as 150% cases as in all of 2001. The number of Russians infected with the virus has nearly tripled since 2001. Each year 26,000 new infections are occurring in Ukraine, and nearly 700,000 people have tuberculosis which is particularly dangerous for people with HIV. Cases in Estonia have tripled during the year of 2001.

Contact: Emilis Subata: 370-687-25711,

Valdas Dambrava

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