Solutions from Ukraine: free HIV testing available for all Ukrainians

Yaroslava Lopatina, head of the Anti-AIDS-USA Foundation in Ukraine (AHF Ukraine), said at a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine-Ukrinform that every Ukrainian can get tested for HIV for free in 15 minutes.

Ukrinform reports this.

What is the problem?

Currently, Ukraine occupies one of the first places among the countries of the European region in terms of the number of people living with HIV.

"According to the Center for Public Health, 257,000 people are living with HIV infection in Ukraine. This takes into account the occupied territories. If we talk about those people who are under surveillance, then about 160,000 people are receiving treatment. So, one-third of the population is unaware of the existence of HIV infection and, therefore, does not receive treatment. This group is the driving force behind the spread of the epidemic," emphasized Yarosava Lopatina, head of the USA Anti-AIDS Foundation Representation in Ukraine.

She added that it is also essential to pay attention to the fact that only 69% of people living with HIV know their status and can control the disease.

What is the solution?

Currently, every Ukrainian can get tested for HIV for free in 15 minutes, and it is worth doing to take care of yourself and your health.

How does it work?

"Now there are rapid tests for HIV. Anyone can go to a medical facility or the public sector and take a free test quickly, confidentially, and painlessly. It takes 15 minutes. There is access to testing. But the medical sector also needs to take care of it. It is necessary to offer an HIV test to people who seek medical help," said Lopatina.

She added that doctors who deal directly with HIV infections understand this. Still, other doctors often forget that HIV infection can be asymptomatic for a long time and, therefore, do not actively offer the test.

Lopatina noted that HIV is transmitted through sexual intercourse.

"Almost 75% of people who have recently been diagnosed with HIV have this infection precisely because of sexual intercourse," she noted.

The head of the Anti-AIDS Foundation-USA Representative Office in Ukraine emphasized that the war also only complicates the problem of combating the HIV epidemic.

Therefore, it is essential to take care of protection against HIV and to undergo testing.

"Of course, many hospitals were destroyed. But where there are no hostilities, there is access to testing," she emphasized.

For reference:

World AIDS Day has been celebrated every year since 1988 on December 1. This day is part of the global campaign "16 days against gender-based violence".

The main goal of this day is to draw society's attention to the problem of HIV/AIDS, increase people's awareness, and also demonstrate solidarity on the way to overcoming this problem.

HIV is a socially dangerous disease that affects the immune system and weakens the defense against many infections and some types of cancer, which the immune system of a healthy person can cope with. The virus destroys and weakens the function of immune cells, so infected persons gradually develop immunodeficiency. The last stage of HIV infection is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Since the first cases of HIV infection were registered more than 35 years ago, 78 million people have been infected with HIV, and 35 million have died from diseases caused by AIDS.

HIV/AIDS still remains a global problem for humanity, the dangerous character of which deepens against the background of wartime realities.

That is why, today, it is essential to take care of the rights of people with HIV, to provide them with appropriate medical and social assistance, as well as to ensure the availability and proper quality of testing to detect HIV infection.

Diseases such as HIV infection require constant monitoring, inclusion, and provision of medical drugs.

The success of HIV treatment in a particular patient directly depends on the regularity of taking antiretroviral therapy. The fight against HIV at the regional and national level directly depends on the identification of cases, the prevention of infection, and the actual treatment.

The terror that Russia is perpetrating against the medical system of Ukraine has terrible consequences for every patient, as well as for the general epidemic situation in the country.

As Rubryka reported, the Complete Care4you application has appeared in Ukraine for patients with HIV, tuberculosis, and substitution therapy.

It was also reported that the United States allocated almost 120 million dollars in financial aid to Ukraine's medical system.