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There are an estimated 3,500 people living with HIV in Serbia, a third of whom do not know they have this infection. Evidence shows that an HIV epidemic is concentrated in the population of men who have sex with men. It is alarming to note that more than half of HIV-positive people are between the ages of 25 and 39, and in recent years young people between the ages of 20 and 29 have contracted the disease. Research shows that in Serbia, the first sexual intercourse lasts an average of 17 years, with only 28.3% of young people aged 15 to 24 having a thorough knowledge of HIV.
– According to the global targets, it is necessary that by 2020, 90% of the estimated number of HIV-positive people are diagnosed and that 90% of those who discover that the diagnosis is being treated and that the disease is under control. One third of the patients whose virus was detected last year come from Belgrade – said Dr Vesna Knjeginić, assistant minister of health.
Today, HIV is a chronic disease of high quality and long life, if treatment is started on time, preferably at an early stage, and if treatment is carried out continuously and in accordance with instructions given by doctors, a high percentage (greater than 90% of patients), the control of the disease is successful. This means that a person undergoing successful treatment can not transmit HIV infection through the blood.
However, people living with HIV face many challenges: difficulties related to regular therapy, the rejection of the environment and the nearest, discrimination in the institutions of the system, at the same time. inability to exercise rights, such as employment, representatives of the Union of Serbian Organizations involved in the protection of people living with HIV and AIDS.
The HIV associations have hailed the Ministry of Health's efforts to compensate for Serbia's delay in relation to countries in the region in terms of the quality of treatment of infected persons.
– The new anti-HIV drugs we advocated have been available for a year. This ensures easier administration of the treatment, fewer tablets and fewer side effects. We also see efforts to introduce an electronic recipe and improve the operating system to reduce the risk of congestion and facilitate the treatment of this infection that lasts a lifetime – says "powerful" Bratislav Prokić National Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health.
All those who engage in risky sexual behavior need regular HIV testing, and Dr. Mila Paunić, Director of the Voluntary and Confidential HIV Counseling and Testing Center at the Institute for the Management of Health Care in Canada. Belgrade students, explained that this institution worked for three decades This was done by more than 58,000 people.
– During this period, 551 people at this counseling center learned that HIV was positive. It is a pioneering consulting center in our region and plays a leading role, not only in our country, but also in the region and in many other areas. Screening behaves responsibly towards you because you reduce the possibility of detecting HIV late, but also to others, as well as the possibility of later transmission of the virus to others, including the mother to the child, added Dr. Paunic.
According to the Serbian Institute of Public Health of Serbia, from 1986 to the end of 2017, 3,664 people infected with HIV were registered in Serbia, of whom 1,901 had AIDS and 1,223 died. Last year, 178 people discovered that he was infected with HIV, 55 were a new AIDS disease and 14 had died from it.
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