The All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV kindly invites you to participate in a Charity auction “Children in Need”. All proceeds from the auction will benefit HIV-positive children in Ukraine. The auction will take place at „Arena Entertainment”, 2a Basseyna str. Kyiv, on 22 February 2006 18:30.

On the data of the Ukrainian AIDS Center, since 1987 there have been registered 87,159 cases of HIV in Ukraine (last updated: December 2005). 12,622 people have AIDS and 7,278 people have already died of this disease.

Review of the HIV/AIDS situation in the Ukraine as of 01.07.05.

Data on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine (June 2005):

• The number of officially registered HIV cases as of June 1st, 2005: 81 560, among them 9 665 are children. According to the experts estimations the number of people living with HIV in Ukraine exceeds 1%. The number of AIDS cases is 10 676 adults and 360 kids.
• 6 351 adults and 165 kids died of AIDS. The peak of AIDS deaths were registered in 2004 and amounted to 1 775 (to compare: in 2000 there were 415). According to the experts estimations, the number of people died of AIDS starting from 1987 made up 20 000 people.
• 50% of all new HIV cases include youth aging from 20 to 29 years old.

Tendencies:

• Increase of new HIV cases transmitted by heterosexual way (in 2000 – 23%, in 2004 – 32,35%).
• Reduction of the number of injection drugs users in the total number of HIV+ people (in 1997 -76%, in 2004 – 71%).
• Increase in the number of new cases of HIV+ children born from HIV+ mothers (in 1995 – 99 kids, in 2004 – 2 293 kids).
• Increase of the number of HIV-infected women in the total number of HIV-positive people (in 1997 – 25%, in 2004 – 45%).

Starting from 1995 HIV/AIDS epidemic was spreading mostly among IDUs and their sex partners. Nowadays number of new HIV cases among women is rising dramatically. Partly, the reason for such shift might be explained by increasing figures in the heterosexual way of HIV transmission. Indeed, recent trends demonstrate the fact that Ukraine is now at the edge of the heterosexual epidemic. The consequences of the heterosexual epidemic are rather clear. In the countries, where HIV from the risk groups is spreading to the general population, number of HIV-positive kids and AIDS orphans is increasing along with the budget allowances for the treatment, care and support.

The presentation titled “Ukraine at the edge of the heterosexual epidemic. Who will take care of the AIDS orphans tomorrow?” contains brief analyses of the recent trends and might-be reasons for HIV/AIDS spread among children along with the list of problems faced by children, involved in HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ukraine.

The information was first presented at the German-Austrian AIDS Congress, which took place in Vienna, June 1st – June 4th.