EATG calls for political leadership across the EU in the response to the HIV epidemic
For immediate release
(Brussels, December 1st, 2009) - Although the HIV epidemic appears to have stabilized in most regions of the world, there is no reason for complacency in Europe. According to the figures in the UNAIDS/WHO report “AIDS epidemic 2009”, in Western and Central Europe national epidemics are concentrated among key populations at higher risk, in particular in men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and migrants. In some of these groups and in some countries of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia, HIV prevalence is higher than in some sub-Saharan countries suffering from a generalized epidemic. Treatment coverage can not be taken for granted in all countries of the EU. Partly due to the economic crisis, treatment stock-outs have been reported in the Baltic States, with more stock-outs likely to occur in other European countries.
The EU Member States and the European neighbouring countries face a particular challenge due to the alarmingly high numbers of new HIV infections, and also due to associated infections like hepatitis and tuberculosis. In 2008 alone, more than 51000 new HIV cases have been reported, and the number of people living with HIV have reached more than 2 million. HIV prevalence remains clearly on the rise in particular in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Ukraine and the Russian Federation are experiencing especially severe and growing national epidemics, with injecting drug use reamining the primary route of transmission. Although access to antiretroviral therapy has expanded, treatment coverage remains relatively low. As the UNAIDS/WHO report highlights “by December 2008 only 22% of adults in need of antiretroviral therapy were receiving it.”
To address the HIV epidemic effectively, comprehensive human rights-based and evidence- informed HIV policies need to be implemented throughout the EU. The new EU communication “Combating HIV/AIDS in the European Union and neighbouring countries (2009-2013)”, the second of its kind, sets out to bring about this kind of response in the EU.
“This important political signal from the Commission’s side needs to be matched now by an unambigouous political leadership of all the EU institutions and the EU Member States alike.” stresses Anna Żakowicz, the Chair of the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG). “We thus call on the new European Parliament to continuously monitor and support the implementation of the EU strategy from within the European Parliament. To this effect, the European AIDS Treatment Group stands ready to support the work of a new informal cross-party intergroup.”
“Leadership at highest EU level is needed to implement the human-rights based HIV policies, which we know that work, policies that are adapted to the most affected groups”, urges Koen Block, the Excecutive Director of the EATG, who will raise this topic at a hearing in the Belgian Senate on the occasion of World AIDS Day. “We are delighted to hear that Spain chooses HIV as a priority, and are keen to see the trio presidency – Spain, Belgium, Hungary – cooperate closely together to bring about sustained change in HIV policies across the EU, in particular in the field of early diagnosis and most importantly in the area of anti-discrimination.”
For more information, please contact:
European AIDS Treatment Group
In Brussels, Koen Block (English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch)
+32 2 626 96 40 or koen.block@eatg.org
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