KHOROG, July 6, 2009, Asia-Plus — 12 new HIV-infection cases have been registered in Gorno Badakhshan over the first six months of this year, director of the GBAO AIDS Center Mulloabdol Abdulloyev announced at a press conference in Khorog at the end of last week.
The press conference was given on occasion of completion of the Pamir against AIDS Project.
Speaking to reporters, Abdulloyev noted that 4 to 27 new HIV cases were reported in the region every year. “In all, 115 HIV sufferers, including 108 men and seven women, have been official registered in Gorno Badakhshan since 2003,” he said.
According to him, injecting drug users constitute 82.3 percent of people living with HIV in the region. 15.7 percent of HIV sufferers contracted the disease through sexual intercourse and the cause of the infection is unknown in 2 percent of cases.
“93 percent of HIF-infected people in Gorno Badakhshan are people aged 20 to 50,” Abdulloyev said, noting that an increase in the number of HIV cases contracted through sex evokes special concern. “The number of such cases increased from 2.2 percent in 2003 to 15.7 percent in 2008,” said he, “Labor migrants are now also among the high-risk groups.”
Over the past five years, 24 HIV sufferers have died in Gorno Badakhshan; nine of them have died of overdose of drugs, seven other have died of tuberculosis, and eight HIV sufferers have died of diabetes, stomach ulcer, liver cirrhosis, and other diseases.
The Pamir against AIDS Project was initiated by AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW) in cooperation with the Khorog NGO, Volunteer, under financial support of Oxfam-NOVIB in an effort to establish a network of essential public health services in Gorno Badakhshan. By building the local capacity of service providers in the GBAO region, this project sought to effectively address the growing HIV epidemic among vulnerable populations (that is, injecting drug users and highly vulnerable women, including sex workers), as well as supporting those individuals already living with HIV. The focus was on involving all sectors of society in building a client-centered continuum of care that includes prevention, treatment and support.
The project was aimed at establishing a Resource Center in the region to house informational resources for public health service providers and non-governmental organizations responding to HIV, providing technical support to the voluntary counseling and testing unit at the local AIDS center in the region, providing a series of capacity building training sessions and seminars on best-practice and international experience related to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, carrying out a series of networking activities to improve co-ordination and communication at the policy level on HIV-related issues.
These activities have increased the availability of services among those most vulnerable to HIV, including access to medical, social, educational, psycho-social and harm reduction services, as well as self-help group initiatives.
