#EECAAIDS2018

To register for the 22nd International AIDS Conference with the standard fee is possible before May 18. After this date, the registration will be possible only with the higher fee. Deadline to submit a visa application and to request a Letter of Invitation is June 1.

Author: Nargis Harambaeva, Tajikistan Umed Boev, age 41, an ex-prisoner from Tajik town of Bokhtar advocates healthy lifestyle

The Project to create the 100 Percent Life network of clinics is a challenge for the Charitable Organisation All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. It is considered to be the largest patient organization throughout the former Soviet Union. During the past several years, modern medical centres accessible for all patients have been opened in each region of Ukraine. Medical centres will provide treatment and social support to those frequently dealing with discrimination at regular hospitals: people living with HIV, representatives of key risk groups. HIV-positive patients will receive services free of charge, clients, in general, will receive them at below-market prices.

Our meeting with David Ananiashvili was appointed in a green courtyard of the Infectious Diseases, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Research Centre. The Centre is located in an old building in one of the central districts of Tbilisi, Georgia. The authorities have been promising a new working space for the centre since long ago, but so far there has been no progress in this process. However, David feels at home – he knows every corner here. He was one of the first people in Georgia who publicly spoke about their HIV status. David is the head of the Georgian Plus Group NGO. Since 2000, the NGO has been implementing various projects to protect the rights of people living with HIV and standing up to stigma and discrimination.

For almost a year and a half, law enforcement agencies have been persecuting sex workers in Kyrgyzstan. During this period, the number of sex workers receiving HIV prevention services in some regions of the country reduced twice. Civil society organisations registered up to 475 cases of sex workers’ rights violations by the police every year.

In 2004, Georgia became the first and only country in the Eastern European region that succeeded in ensuring universal coverage by antiretroviral therapy (ART). The government funds treatment with first-generation medication, the rest is funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Treatment and testing are free of charge, and if a person seeks assistance at the appropriate time, the assistance is sure to be provided. When observing the dynamics of HIV/AIDS epidemic in Georgia in the past years, positive changes are noticeable right away. Life expectancy and quality have significantly improved in many patients. However, notwithstanding evident achievements in overcoming HIV/AIDS epidemic, the low HIV detection level remains to be the main problem.

In the post-Soviet countries there is no single document that would regulate the issues of HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment for migrants as well as their legal status. Migrant workers do not get the adequate services in the countries where they work which inevitably leads to the decline of their health status and to the growth of the HIV epidemic in the region. This message was the main one in the discussion at the sub-regional technical seminar in Astana, Kazakhstan on February 19-20, 2018. The event was organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in cooperation with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.