A joint press release by WHO and UNAIDS, ahead of a major conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, highlights the problems with HIV/AIDS in European and Central Asian countries.
With more than 1.8 million people living with HIV in the region, the epidemic poses a serious threat to the region’s social and economic stability.
In Western Europe, deaths from AIDS have declined due to the availability of HIV treatment. Alarmingly, AIDS infection rates have continued to rise because of waning government commitments to prevention efforts and complacency linked to the availability of treatment. The number of people living with HIV in Western Europe rose from 540 000 in 2001 to 580 000 by end 2003.
WHO and UNAIDS urge European governments to turn strategy into integrated HIV prevention and treatment programmes to save the lives of thousands of people. More national and European investment is urgently needed in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Prevention, awareness-raising, availability and affordabilty of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment are also key to halting the growing AIDS epidemic.
Joint WHO-UNAIDS press release
More information on the Vilnius conference
September 2004, A coordinated and integrated approach to fighting HIV/AIDS in EU and in its neighbourhood
February 2004, UNDP warns CEE/NIS countries face a general HIV/AIDS epidemic
July 2003, World Bank warns of AIDS epidemics in the Balkans
