Odessa City of Aids

[steve_vlasenko]

From Rueters

7 percent of Ukraine's population may be lost due to AIDS by 2016, says demographics expert

A "fast AIDS" epidemic is spreading in Ukraine, and by 2016, Ukraine's losses could reach 2.1 million people, or 7 percent of the country's population, the head of the demographics and working resources department of the Economics Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Valentyna Steshenko said, according to a UNIAN report.
According to Stetsenko, the World Health Organization has called Ukraine the HIV epicentre of Europe. The epidemic has been forecast to reach its peak in Ukraine in 2007-2016, the report said.
At present, there are 34,522 registered cases of people infected with the HIV virus, 1,758 of whom are children.
The largest numbers of HIV-infected cases have been registered in the Odessa oblasts, as a result of high levels of intravenous drug use and prostitution, according to the report.

Vlas

[BenCA]

ouch, this doesn't look good
did they say how they plan to take care of this problem?

[Tentmaker]

"It should be noted that the World Bank has recently reviewed public expenditure since independence. The report states that there has been a deterioration in health conditions in Ukraine, with life expectancy declining, infant mortality increasing and the re-emergence of infectious diseases. Real health expenditure has fallen by 51 per cent and health policies remained unchanged. The Bank report argues that the government should change its role by ⌠ (i) focusing on the provision of cost-effective primary health care; and (ii) building a capacity for quality and safety control for vaccines and pharmaceuticals, while leaving their production, importation and distribution to the private sector.■ (World Bank, 1997.) There is no mention of HIV or AIDS or the potential consequences for public expenditure, let alone the health sector."
(This report is the 1999-updated version)

Tentmaker
Ever a goodly shelterer