DUSHANBE, December 3, 2015, Asia-Plus — The 2nd Regional Forum of People Living with HIV opened in Dushanbe today.
Organized by the Central Asian Association of People Living with HIV under support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the event has brought together representatives of the communities of people living with HIV (PLHIV) from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as well as the Ministry of health and Social Protection of Tajikistan, the Committee for Family and Women’s Affairs of Tajikistan, Tajikistan’s AIDS Center, AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW), UN agencies active in Tajikistan and relevant local NGOs.
During two days, the meeting participants are discussing issues related to supporting development of opportunities of national organizations of people living with HIV.
First Stigma Index survey will be presented at the forum that has created a platform for dialogue between the organizations of people living with HIV on exchange of experience in mitigating and stopping stigma and discrimination against PLHIV, determining priorities of interregional cooperation between PJHIV networks, developing mechanisms of partnership and cooperation between government agencies and public associations dealing with HIV problems, etc.
According to the statistical data from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MoHSP), 844 new cases of HIV infection have been detected in the country since the beginning of this year, bringing a total number of HIV sufferers in the country to 5,592.
In Tajikistan, the first HIV infection case was officially registered in the northern province of Sughd in 1991 and since that time, 7,402 Tajikistanis have contracted the HIV infection; 1,450 HIV sufferers have died of various HIV-infection related diseases.
