AFEW: For journalists >> Médecins Sans Frontières establishes new NGO AIDS Foundation East-West. Former Soviet Union experiencing fastest rates of HIV/AIDS infection seen anywhere in the world

Médecins Sans Frontières establishes new NGO AIDS Foundation East-West. Former Soviet Union experiencing fastest rates of HIV/AIDS infection seen anywhere in the world

Moscow, 27 November 2001 - Today, the international medical aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launches the new NGO, AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW), which is specifically designed to combat the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union. The new NGO evolved out of the MSF team that started the HIV/AIDS activities in 1996. AFEW will continue and expand MSF's HIV/AIDS prevention activities in Ukraine and Russia.

Apart from prevention, AFEW will also focus on treatment, care and support of HIV-infected people. AFEW introduces activities based on lessons learned elsewhere in the world tailored to the setting of the NIS. Targeted groups for the programs will be the young generation, including specific "high-risk" groups such as injecting drug users, prisoners and commercial sex workers.
AFEW also sees it as part of its mission to strengthen the engagement between Eastern and Western countries in fighting the AIDS epidemic in this region. AFEW wants to promote a better understanding among Western countries and make them realise that AIDS is no longer only a "North-South" problem.

Working closely with governmental and non-governmental partners on a wide range of HIV/AIDS related activities, MSF has initiated health reforms and stimulated countrywide implementation of an array of HIV/AIDS related strategies over the last five years. "We are led to believe that the activities of MSF have contributed to a true perception of the potential threat of this socially distorting health crisis," says Austen Davis, General Director of MSF-H in Amsterdam. "Having the engagement of the core team in Moscow to commit themselves to this new organization for at least the coming five years, MSF is in full support of establishing this expert, innovative and motivated organization - AIDS Foundation East-West - to continue the battle against the AIDS epidemic in the Newly Independent States."

The former Soviet Union is still experiencing the fastest rates of HIV/AIDS infection seen anywhere in the world. Infection rates in some countries of the NIS are doubling each year. In November 2001, official government figures for the total number of cases of HIV/AIDS in Russia stood at more than 160,000. The World Health Organization and UNAIDS say the actual number is probably five- to ten-times that amount, indicating that between half a million and 1 million Russian people could be infected with the HIV virus. Government sources predict by the year 2005 that number will rise to more than 5 million.

AFEW has been established by MSF with support of the Open Society Institute and the Dutch government. "This organization will significantly contribute in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the NIS" says George Soros, Founder of the Open Society Institute. "It is a unique organization with experienced staff and the vision to make a difference." Jozias van Aartsen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands adds: "HIV/AIDS will soon be a major burden on the local health systems, on the national budgets and on the society as a whole, thereby threatening the socio-economic development of the NIS countries. Given the level of mobility of this day and age, the treat of the fast growing infection will surely extend beyond the NIS-countries itself".

AFEW will have its headquarters in Moscow and branch offices in Kiev (Ukraine) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) expanding its activities to Republic of Moldova, Belarus, Kyrchistan and the other countries of the NIS.

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