KULOB, July 10, 2008, Asia-Plus — Over the first six months of this year, confidence centers for injecting drug users have been set up in the city of Kulob and in Khatlon’s Shahritus, Jilikul, Qumsangir and Danghara districts as part of the national HIV/AIDS-prevention program.
The Khatlon AIDS Center director Davron Kunguratov told Asia-Plus Thursday that 33 new cases of HIV have been detected in the province over the same six-month period, bringing a total number of officially registered HIV sufferers in Khatlon to 226.
According to him, the confidence centers are provided with necessary furniture, equipment and distributing material. The confidence centers have a staff of 6 each, including one physician, one consultant and four nurses.
The necessity of opening such centers stems from the fact that drug addicts constitute 52.7 percent of the total number of HIV sufferers registered in the province, Kunguratov said.
The Khatlon AID Center head noted that they now also pay attention to labor migrants as individuals at risk.
