WHO Calls Europe Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic in the World

© AFP 2023 TED ALJIBEParticipants take part in the "walk to end AIDS" event to mark World Aids Day in Manila on December 2, 2023.
Participants take part in the walk to end AIDS event to mark World Aids Day in Manila on December 2, 2023. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 02.12.2023
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Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an infection that targets the body’s immune system. It attacks the body’s white blood cells, which leads to weakening of the immune system. If left untreated, it leads to AIDS, the disease's most advanced and terminal stage.
Europe is the World Health Organization's (WHO) region with the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world, despite the fact that all the instruments to prevent the disease and its spread are at hand there, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said on Friday.
"Yet, ironically, the WHO European Region has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world. 50% of people in the European Region receive a late diagnosis — people come to healthcare too late, and we are not managing to reach them earlier. This trend has not changed for 10 years. In a number of countries in our Region death rates are unacceptably high, in others, HIV transmission has been almost completely stopped," Kluge wrote in a statement.
He added that thanks to the advances in medicine, the HIV has turned into a regular chronic disease and people on treatment can lead long and healthy lives without transmitting the virus.
"I am asking everyone in the coming year — from policymakers to the health care sector and the prison sector — to advocate for action and engage community leadership in all HIV plans and programmes, to fully fund sustainable community leadership and to support civil society with robust policies," the UN health official said.
Blessing Chingwaru, 29, an HIV positive TB patient, holds a packet of tablets received as part of his treatment at Rutsanana Polyclinic in Glen Norah township, Harare June 24, 2019. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 01.12.2023
Sub-Saharan Africa
Zimbabwe Marks Turning Point in HIV/AIDS Prevention as President Urges to Raise Awareness
On Tuesday, the United Nations program on HIV/AIDS said that AIDS could be eradicated as a public health threat by 2030 if governments and donors provide the means to communities on the ground fighting the disease.
At the moment, there is no effective vaccine against the HIV infection, but there are medicines that prevent HIV infection developing into AIDS if the treatment is started early.
News of the spread of HIV in Europe comes as Zimbabwe's president on Friday announced significant progress in preventing HIV. So, in the country, 96% of adults know their status; 96% of adults who are living with HIV are on treatment, and 93% of adults who are on treatment have a suppressed viral load, the UNICEF data published in as of July 2023 showed. It means that the country successfully attained the 95-95-95 Joint United Nations Programme goals in fighting the disease.
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