AIDS infections are increasing in Eastern Europe and declining in the West

LONDON (Reuters) – Last year, the HIV virus in eastern Europe was diagnosed with more than 130,000 people, the highest rate ever recorded in the region. world experts in public health. While new HIV infections have decreased in Western Europe.

The incidence of HIV infection in the European Union and in the European Economic Area decreased in 2017.

According to data from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO Regional Office for Europe, about 160,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in Europe last year.

"It's hard to talk about good news in another year that has seen an unacceptably high number of people infected with HIV," said Suzana Jacab, director of the regional office of the WHO. She called on governments and health officials to recognize the seriousness of the situation.

UNAIDS warned in July that inaction had begun to disrupt the fight against the disease in the world and that progress was not being achieved. Around 37 million people are infected with HIV worldwide.

According to the World Health Organization, the European region has 53 countries and nearly 900 million inhabitants. Some 508 million of them live in the 28 EU Member States, alongside Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Since the outbreak of the disease in the 1980s, more than 77 million people have been infected with HIV worldwide. Nearly half of them, or 35.4 million, have died.