Pavol Stracansky
PRAGUE, Dec 17 2009 (IPS) – Complacency and ignorance over the risks posed by HIV and AIDS are threatening to send infection rates soaring in the Czech Republic, health authorities.
At the start of December, Czech authorities released figures showing there were 128 new cases of HIV/AIDS in the first ten months of this year, bringing the number of those infected to 1,315. They expect the final figures for the year to show a 20 percent rise over last year.
These figures are low in comparison with West European countries and among the lowest in Central and Eastern Europe. Russia now has 940,000 infected people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the Ukraine has the highest infection rate in all of Europe.
But authorities warn that the infection rate in the Czech Republic could rise quickly as more people indulge in risky sexual behaviour and many remain ignorant about the true dangers posed by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Most people infected with the virus eventually develop acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) which throws them wide open to opportunistic infections and malignancies.
Marek Maly of the National Institute of Public Health told IPS: There are more and more people living with the disease every year. The numbers are going up, the infection rate is rising and it will continue to rise freely.
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Maly said the risk of the virus spreading comes mostly from homosexual men who, in some cases, are not practicing safe sex even after testing positive.
We have seen during the last six years an increase in new cases in the Czech Republic and this is mainly driven by the increase in numbers among homosexuals. The reason for this is probably sexual contact and risky [sexual] behaviour, Maly said.
But health experts at the institute warn that ignorance of the disease among Czechs may also be contributing to its spread since many believe that the disease is akin to catching a cold and can be cured.
The fear that surrounded the disease at one point has receded and people know it can be treated. They are neglecting prevention. It s seen as a normal thing by some, Maly told IPS.
The warning of a potential increase in infection numbers in the country comes as the entire East European region sees rising HIV/AIDS numbers.
In a report last month the WHO and the United Nations said that there were 1.5 million people in East Europe and Central Asia with HIV in 2008 against 900,000 in 2001. They estimate that 87,000 people died of AIDS last year more than three times the number in 2001.
The situation is worse in Russia and the Ukraine which together account for almost 90 per cent of HIV-infection in the region. The Ukraine has the highest infection levels in all of Europe with the adult HIV prevalence standing at more than 1.6 percent of the population, according to the U.N.
Former Soviet states, such as Uzbekistan which now has the largest number of cases in Central Asia are reporting growing numbers as well.
Denis Broun, director of the Regional Support Team for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at UNAIDS (the U.N. body which deals with HIV/AIDS), told IPS: The epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has been fuelled by injecting drug users. Direct injection of the virus, through the sharing of needles by drug users, results in much higher transmission rates than sexual contact .
The severe crisis that affected Russia and several other countries of the region in 1998 led to social trauma, with sudden increases in unemployment, disruption of family and traditional social networks, etc. and contributed to a rapid increase in the number of people injecting drugs, notably in Russia and the Ukraine, Broun added.
According to Broun prejudice against at-risk groups and those with HIV/AIDS in some parts of the region has also hindered efforts to tackle the epidemic.
Prejudice creates particular difficulties implementing prevention programmes, notably directed at marginal populations such as drug users and homosexuals. It also limits access to testing, as the stigma associated with being positive often deters those at risk from getting tested and counselled, Broun said.
One worry in the Czech Republic is that Ukrainians who form a major immigrant groups could be a source of new infections.
We have many cases among the Ukrainian population in the Czech Republic, Maly said. In the Ukraine the prevalent form of HIV/AIDS infection is through injections for drug use and there is a risk that such infections will be introduced in our country too.