#EECAAIDS2018

Saturday morning at the Schiphol airport. A conference participant from Ukraine – camera operator Igor K. – finds out that his tablets are gone. In a second, a confident man loses his heart: he becomes pale, his hands are shaking, and his eyes are full of dread. Igor has been taking methadone therapy for a few years, and for him losing his tablets can be life-changing. In Ukraine, it is not possible to receive methadone at the weekend.

AFEW International and AFEW Network have organised and supported numerous activities within 22nd International AIDS Conference AIDS 2018. AFEW joined many initiatives by other organisations and networks and presented successful cases of work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). Together with EECA regional networks and committed advocates, AFEW has put great effort into making sure that the AIDS crisis and related public health concerns in EECA were featured in the conference program.

More than 5 000 people, including famous actress Charlize Theron, visited the prison corner in Harm Reduction Networking Zone (HRNZ) located in the Global Village at the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) in Amsterdam. During five days, visitors could stop by, have a delicious cup of coffee made by former prisoners and participate in a programme with interactive debates, interviews, and presentations. Prisoners are usually a forgotten group since very few organisations pay attention to this vulnerable group of people.

Fifty-year-old Zebo from a southern region of Tajikistan – Khatlon – is a former labour migrant. At the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam (AIDS 2018), she had the courage to speak out about what she long kept in – her HIV-positive status. Zebo once again turned the attention of the international community to the fact that labour migrants are one of the populations most vulnerable to HIV. We interviewed her in Amsterdam, right after she delivered a speech at one of the sessions dedicated to HIV in the context of labour migration.

Just before the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam AIDS 2018, a new Global AIDS Update prepared by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) was presented in Paris. The report shows that the HIV epidemic is still growing in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In the recent year, the number of new HIV cases in the region has doubled.