Involvement of Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the AIDS Conference 2018

The International Aids Society (IAS) and its five permanent partners selected Amsterdam as the host city for the International AIDS Conference of 2018. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFa) has selected AFEW International as the lead partner to implement a draft Plan of Action for AIDS2018. Together with others, AFEW is to carry out activities in preparation for an increased participation and visibility of the Eastern European and Central Asia (ECCA) region at AIDS2018 in quantity and in quality. For the International AIDS Society, as well as for the Dutch government, it is important that AIDS2018 will have a positive impact on the response to HIV and AIDS globally and in EECA in particular. EECA represents one of the few regions globally where there is a continued increase in the incidence of HIV infection . The current estimated number of people living with HIV in the region exceeds 1 500 000 people. The HIV burden in the region is growing constantly, showing an increase of 58% in AIDS mortality between 2006 and 2012. Injecting drug use was the initial driver of the HIV epidemic but heterosexual transmission has now become widespread in the region. Moreover, TB is a leading cause of death among people living with HIV, and this co-infection is increasing in the EECA region. About 17.000 out of an estimated 21.000 HIV patients co-infected with TB were detected in 2013, but only 54% of them received antiretroviral treatment (ART). According to the WHO, the TB/HIV co-infection rate is increasing in the EECA region, with 13.000 people detected with the co-infection in 2012, of which only 62.3% were offered ART. With prevalence up to 95%, EECA has some of the highest rates of hepatitis C among people who use drugs (PWUD) in the world. The prevalence of hepatitis C among injecting drug users in EECA is among the highest in the world. This is unfortunately matched by extremely low levels of treatment access, which means that people continue to die of cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. There is an increasing understanding of the need to provide a comprehensive package of services addressing HIV, TB and Hepatitis C in combination. Finally, there is an increasingly hostile social and legal environment for HIV prevention among Key Populations (KP’s) and there is a major lack of financial sustainability in the region. Most governments do not take responsibility to fund prevention and/or treatment programs targeting key populations and civil society that delivers much needed services to KPs and do advocacy. Often research being done is not community-based. In order to achieve the specific objectives AFEW will undertake a comprehensive set of activities, with partners.