The Ministry of Health explained why Belarus should not be compared to Europe in terms of HIV infection rate



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First Deputy Minister of Health Dmitry Pinevich commented on the spread of HIV in Belarus. According to him, the data concerning Belarus are compared more correctly with those of the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and "not geographically with Europe". At the same time, the diagnosis of people infected with HIV in Belarus has improved considerably in recent years. More than 20,000 HIV-positive patients have been identified.

Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters

Remember, according to the report of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO), Belarus is one of the three leaders regarding the number of new cases of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Europe. The highest rate in Russia.

As noted by the first Deputy Minister of Health Dmitry PinevichToday, it would be more correct to compare the data for Belarus with the data for the countries of the EECA region (Eastern Europe and Central Asia – approximately TUT.BY), and not geographically. with Europe. "The HIV epidemic has evolved differently in Western and Central Europe and quite differently in the countries of post-Soviet Europe – the EACA region, where injecting drug users have become the most vulnerable group and a explosive increase in HIV infections in the 1990s and 2000. infection in a large population.

The press service of the Ministry of Health reported that in Western and Central European countries, the epidemic is still localized in vulnerable groups, mainly among men who have bad with men. Therefore, all international organizations, including WHO, developing their HIV programs, include Belarus in the EACA region, and not according to the principle of geography in Europe. And of the four AEOC countries on the ECDC list (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia), Belarus is not a leader.

– In Belarus, after several years of growth, the detection of new HIV infections has stabilized. Over the last three years, an average of 2.5,000 new cases have been detected each year in the country, while in most countries in the EACU region, the number of new cases has increased, the first Minister of Health, Dmitry Pinevich.

In Belarus, as of November 1, 2018, the HIV incidence rate was 20.5 per 100,000 population. This is the incidence rate for the same period last year.

The press service of the Ministry of Health has indicated that in recent years, to tackle the 90-90-90 strategy of UNAIDS (90% of people living with HIV should know their status, 90% should receive antiretroviral therapy, 90% of those who are on treatment should not have a definitive definition viral load – About TUT.BY), HIV testing has become very active in the country.

– There are self-test possibilities: pharmacies sell special tests on saliva. At the United Nations level, these steps are recognized as optimal measures. Of course, in one or two countries, the number of people infected with HIV will increase. It is badociated with the identification of cases that were previously unknown to us. A few years ago, 15,000 HIV-positive patients were registered. The number of unregistered cases is estimated at about 35,000. Today, more than 20,000 patients are registered and their number is estimated at only 26,000. This is to minimize the difference between the calculated figures and the numbers in the register. This will indicate that Belarus has reached a situation in which almost all HIV-positive patients have been identified, said the press service of the Ministry of Health.

More than one million people are tested for HIV each year in health care organizations.

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