Articles About HIV & AIDS from 1998

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• Information within Mensk: (Tzentr Prafilaktiki "CPID"): 375 (17) 227-18-38

• As of 1997, foreign visitors who plan extended stays in Belarus must present a valid, recent AIDS / HIV medical certificate when applying for a visa. Please verify the current requirements (if any) when you plan your trip to Belarus. Refer to the Information for Travelers' section of this Web site for additional travel information.

• The NGO, Belarusian Fund "STOP AIDS"
  Belarus 220000, r. Mensk
  vul. Khar'kovskaya, 76-61
  Tel: 375 (17) 251-6961       chairperson: Victor Chernyavsky

  
  

• United Nations AIDS Program in Belarus

Go to Main Section about HIV Infections and AIDS in Belarus     Go to News Articles About HIV & AIDS from   1999

Article: Belarus Holds Third Place Among CIS and Baltic Countries in the Number of Registered HIV-Infected Persons

"Belarus still holds third place among the countries of the former USSR in the number of registered HIV-infected persons. At the beginning of 1998, the number of officially registered HIV-positive people reached 1,787 in Belarus. Ukraine ranks first with 26,000 persons living with HIV, and Russia holds second place with 6,944 HIV-infected persons. HIV statistics become worse in Kazakhstan and Moldova where 514 and 501 HIV-infected persons were registered. Turkmenistan stands apart from the other CIS and Baltic states, as, according to official statistics, there is only 1 HIV- infected person there."

"These data were cited at a seminar on coverage of AIDS, HIV, and youth issues by the media, which is currently underway in Mensk. The seminar had been organized for journalists by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Belarusian Center for AIDS Prevention, and the Mensk office of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), one of the most experienced American organizations which supports the development of contacts, cooperation, and interaction among the new independent states, countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Mongolia, and the US."

Source: BelaPAN, No. 9; Tuesday, February 3, 1998; 7:00 p.m.

Article: UNICEF office in Belarus Announces Winners in a Competition for the Best Report about AIDS

"The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Belarus has announced winners in a competition among Belarusian journalists for the best report about AIDS. Money prizes were awarded to Olga Sergovets for the television program Perekhod [Crossing] and Leonid Vasilyev for the program Zdorovie [Health]. Among the winners also were the directors of the television program Shlyakhi Bez Slyadow [Paths without Footprints] and the cartoon Preduprezhdenie [Warning]; the staff of the J & L studio; Natalia Aleinikova, chief of a department in the newspaper Svetlagorskiya Naviny; correspondents for the Sluzhba Spasenyia magazine, the SPID- Kurier and Na Strazhe newspapers and the Stolitsa radio station."

Source: BelaPAN, No.50; Monday, February 16, 1998; 2:00 p.m.

Article: Belarus' National AIDS Prevention Center Registers 1,859 HIV-Infected

"The National AIDS Prevention Center registered 72 people infected with HIV in Belarus in January 1998. The number of people living with HIV reached 1,859 as of the beginning of February. One hundred and eighty HIV-infected persons have been registered in Mensk in the last 10 years, including 88 new cases reported in 1997. These data were cited by the National AIDS Prevention Center's officials at a news conference held at the Mensk City Executive Committee on February 17."

"Experts predict that HIV infection will continue to spread. According to them, there are 770 registered drug addicts in Belarus but their real number is probably 10 or 12 times as many. As was said at the news conference, some syringe exchange centers for drug users will be opened in Mensk in the near future to prevent the infection from spreading. Two such centers have already been set up in Svetlogorsk, the town in the Gomel region most affected by HIV infection. Drug users are also given condoms and literature on disease prevention in these centers which registered 8,000 visits and exchanged 18,000 syringes within 6 months."

Source: BelaPAN, No. 53; Tuesday, February 17, 1998; 2:00 p.m.

Article: Belarusian Center for AIDS Prevention Issues an Open Letter About the Danger of AIDS

"As the number of HIV-infected continues to increase in Belarus, the Belarusian Center for AIDS Prevention has issued yet another open letter addressed "to parents". A similar letter was issued by the center and the Ministries of Public Health and of Education in 1996 when the infection only began to spread in Belarus."

"The letter says that drug abuse and the manufacture, trafficking and sale of drugs are on the rise in the country. Most of new addicts are young people, including children and teenagers. The authors of the letter stress that a further spread of HIV may have irretrievable and awful consequences, including a further increase in early pregnancies and a spread of venereal diseases and AIDS. Experts call upon parents to prevent children from using alcohol or drugs or having early sexual contacts. There are currently 18 HIV-infected children in Belarus, including 3 children with AIDS."

Source: BelaPAN, No.3; Monday, March 2, 1998; 2:00 p.m.

Article: Gomel Health Care Facilities in Poor State

"Health care specialists in the Gomel region are concerned about the ability of the local medical facilities to cope with an increasing number of contagious diseases. The construction of a hospital for contagious diseases has been already underway for 10 years. The old hospital, which was built in 1949, is beyond repair and its operation becomes more and more unsafe. Despite this fact, the hospital treats about 5,000 people every year."

"The local authorities scheduled the commissioning of the new hospital for 1999 but this will hardly be possible because the central and local governments allocated only one-third of the 100 billion rubels necessary to bring the project to the completion. Under the project, the new hospital will have a special unit for treating HIV-infected patients. This is especially important for the Gomel region which has the largest number of such patients in Belarus."    (nb: emphasis added)

Source: BelaPAN, No.16; Thursday, March 5, 1998; 4:00 p.m.

Article: The State has the Right to Abridge the Rights of HIV-Infected Only in Exceptional Cases and in Accordance with Law

"About half of the 500 Mensk residents interviewed by BelaPAN's Zerkalo (Mirror) polling station at the request of the Center for UN Studies said that the state has the right to abridge the rights and liberties of the HIV-infected and people having AIDS only in exceptional cases and in accordance with legislation. Seventy percent of those who gave such an answer were people aged under 40, and 88 percent were people with secondary and higher education."

"Every third (33 percent) believed that the state has the right to abridge the liberties of the HIV infected, as they 'represent a threat to other people's health.' Among those adhering to this opinion, 64 percent were people aged 40 and older, and 33 percent were people with incomplete secondary and primary education."

"Fifteen percent of those questioned pointed out that no restrictions should be allowed because the state has no right to abridge the rights and liberties of the HIV-infected and AIDS patients. Among the respondents who gave this answer, men accounted for 52 percent, young people aged under 30 for 53 percent, and people with secondary education for 73 percent. Six percent found it difficult to answer the question."

Source: BelaPAN, No. 79; Monday, May 25, 1998; 1:30 p.m.

Article: Gomel Region Remains Most Heavily HIV Infected Area in Belarus

"The National AIDS Prevention Centre registered 188 new HIV-infection cases during the period from January to April 1998. Sixty-nine percent of the cases were reported in the Gomel region. Most (85 percent) of these 188 people were infected after sharing syringes to make a drug injection."

"The number of people living with HIV totalled 1,975 as of May 1, 1998, including 17 people having AIDS. Among them were 3 children. Twenty-six AIDS patients have already died in Belarus."

Source: BelaPAN, No. 77; Saturday, May 23, 1998; 4:00 p.m.

Article: Belarus Draws Up a National Program to Observe This Year's World AIDS Prevention Day

"Belarus has drawn up a national program of events to observe this year's World AIDS Prevention Day (December 1)."

"The National Center for AIDS Prevention told BelaPAN that the program covers a period until December 10 and the largest of the events will be a concert by Ruki Vverkh, a Russian pop group, which is to be held at the Palace of Sports in Minsk on December 3. The concert will be followed with a dance party. Unlike the previous years, the show will not be free. Tickets will cost 500,000 rubels or more."

Source: BelaPAN, No. 41; Wednesday, November 11, 1998; 2:50 p.m.

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