Drug Use Fuels HIV Epidemic in Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- Vitaly became HIV-positive by injecting drugs with a contaminated needle -- the method that's fuelling a veritable HIV epidemic in Ukraine, estimated to be Europe's worst-affected country.

HIV-positive children at an orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine
The 29-year-old, who has been HIV-positive for five years, was aware that he could get infected by using unclean needles, but the urge to get high was just too strong.

"I knew that you can get infected through a syringe, but a person who is chemically dependent sets different priorities in life," he told AFP. "First comes the satisfaction, then comes everything else."

Drug use and unprotected sex are driving an HIV epidemic in Ukraine, where an estimated 1.4 percent of the adult population is infected -- the worst-affected country in Europe, according to a recent UNAIDS report.

"Fuelled by unsafe injecting drug use and unprotected sex, its epidemic shows no signs of abating," the report said.

Although official figures show some 85,000 HIV-positives in Ukraine, the UN estimates the number to be around 360,000.

In addition to health problems, those infected face enormous problems in a country where HIV and AIDS are seen as a disease of "addicts and prostitutes," and where ignorance of the illness and fear of transmission reach deep into all levels of society.

Vitaly, for example, once lay on an operating table waiting to get a boil removed, when hospital staff opened his chart and saw that he was HIV-positive. He was suddenly told that he needed to go to another clinic because removing boils was not that hospital's specialty.

"It sounded disingenous to say the least," Vitaly said. "I was already on the operating table, waiting for the nurse... and then I had to get up, put my clothes back on. I was shaking inside."

Another was when his parents set aside separate plateware for him to eat from.

"It hurt, because HIV is not transmitted in that way," he said.

The attitude that HIV only affects society's "untouchables" helps fuel the epidemic, as many people do not use contraception because they feel they are not at risk, analysts say.

Although slowly Ukrainians are becoming more tolerant of their countrymen who are HIV-positive, cases of HIV-positive children being refused admission to schools are not uncommon, said Vitaly, who today works at "Network for Those Living with HIV," a national non-governmental organization.

"The situation was worse five years ago, but even today it is not sufficiently good," he said.

Several UN-sponsored programs have been launched in Ukraine to help fight the disease, notably syringe exchanges among drug addicts, but experts say that they cover only about 10 percent of the nation's estimated 560,000 intravenous drug users, the UNAIDS report said.

Such programs are also hampered by government initiatives that aim to crack down on drug trafficking, but that end up penalizing drug users who use syringe exchange programs, analysts say.

"One must on the contrary raise the threshold of what doses would be criminal to own... as world practice shows an improvement in epidemics" when drug users do not have to fear criminal prosecution, said Vitaly Yanyuk, an official with the HIV-AIDS Alliance in Ukraine.

The government of President Viktor Yushchenko, who assumed power in late January and has called HIV a "global problem" for Ukraine, has begun to be more active in dealing with the problem of HIV/AIDS.

The Ukrainian leader recently met with HIV-positives, has pledged to pay "particular attention" to the problem, and announced that four national programs aimed at fighting the disease would be launched in 2006.

Vitaly for his part, is thankful that he became infected.

"I am thankful that HIV has appeared in my life because it motivated me to quit drugs and fundamentally change my life," he said. "A person who has faced death... values life more."

"That's not a recipe -- get infected and everything will improve. But in my case, that is exactly what happened."

Source: AFP