Inter Press Service - September 18, 2002
Haider Rizvi

The 120-page report warns that without "immediate and radical" action, there is little to stop the spread of the disease, which it calls the greatest threat to the health of children and young people.

"The implication for the region's economic growth and social stability are alarming," said Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, at a news conference in New York on Wednesday.

"HIV/AIDS has a young face in the region. It can cause a catastrophe," she added.

The report, produced by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center in Florence, Italy, says growing substance abuse and early sexual activity among youth and an increasing number of sex workers are the underlying reasons for the rapid spread of the disease in certain countries of the region.

Youths, said Bellamy, account for most infections but have no or very little knowledge about HIV/AIDS.

In the former Soviet Union, almost 80 percent of new infections registered between 1999 and 2000 were among people under 29. In Estonia, teenagers accounted for nearly 40 percent of new infections.

Last year, about one million people in the region were infected by HIV/AIDS compared to over 400,000 in 1998. UNICEF researchers say they found 90 percent of the region's HIV/AIDS patients in Russia and Ukraine, while Estonia had the highest rate of new infections in the region.

More than one of every 1,000 people in Estonia was infected by HIV/AIDS - almost 20 times the average infection rate in the European Union countries, the report says.

Researchers say one of the reasons why HIV/AIDS cases are on the rise is lack of awareness about the disease. "It's not being acknowledged by the health ministry," says Innocenti's Gaspar Fajth. "The youth lose contact with the health authorities because it is considered a shameful disease."

The report suggests that some governments did respond to the health threat. Small-scale projects in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine "are changing the behaviour of those in high-risk groups and attitude towards those affected and could provide models for future action", it says.

The report names Poland, Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan as other countries that have been effective in fighting HIV/AIDS.

Bellamy says while data suggests little growth of the disease in Central and South-Eastern Europe, "there is no room for complacency".

There is increasing sexual transmission in countries such as Belarus and Ukraine, where HIV made its first appearance in the region.

"The high prevalence of other sexually transmitted infections, such as syphilis and gonorrhoea, suggest that conditions are ripe for the further spread of HIV," said Bellamy.

"And the rising proportion of infections among women, who are less likely to be injecting drugs, is another sign of increasing sexual transmission."

Researchers say a drop in education standards is one reason for youth's growing indulgence in drugs and early sex in some parts of the region. While Russia and other countries in Central Europe continue to maintain high standards in mathematics and science, outcomes in poorer nations such as Romania, Yugoslavia and Moldova have declined.

"It is tempting to call for revolutionary change in teaching methods in transition countries," says the report. "But care must be taken not to throw out the 'baby' of good academic results in mathematics and science, with the 'bathwater' of old-fashioned teaching methods."

"The gradual reform of teaching and examination systems, coupled with more investment in education, may produce more positive results with less disruption."

Despite her grave concerns about the impact of AIDS on the region, the UNICEF chief still believes that awareness-raising campaigns coupled with youth-friendly health policies could curb the spread of the disease.

"The region has great assets to fight against AIDS," said Bellamy. "It has projects that are making a difference, extensive health care services and a literate population."

"We can build on these strengths and on the commitments made by world leaders just five months ago at the U.N. Special Session on Children."

Among other things, the Session pledged to reduce the number of youth with HIV/AIDS in the world's most affected countries by 25 percent by 2005. (END/IPS/WD/HE/HD/HR/ML/02) .

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