According to experts who attended a conference in Almaty less than a month ago, Central Asian countries have a ‘unique opportunity’ to prevent the spread of the HIV infection to the people not in the so-called ‘risk groups’. Nevertheless, some experts added that in order to achieve this result, the scarce resources available should be used more effectively, and a better interaction between regional governments and international donors is needed.

A conference dedicated to the problems of the HIV infection, AIDS, and sexually transmitted diseases was held in the end of May. The main purpose was to carry out and implement ways of propagating a healthy lifestyle, and promoting the use of prophylactic measures. Among the more than 90 participants were high-ranking officials from each Central Asian country except Turkmenistan, who participating in the work of the conference, as well as representatives of international donor organizations and healthcare experts. Another important objective of the discussions was finding the best practical ways and rational strategies of disseminating information. The conference was sponsored by UNAIDS, UNICEF, and USAID.

According to World Bank representative Lora Shresta, ‘Although in general the level of infection diseases in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia remains low, the number of sexually transmitted diseases grows in the prevailing socio-economic conditions, while other alerting tendencies are appearing that make this region sensitive to devastating epidemics.’ ‘The advantage is that Eastern European and Central Asian countries have a unique opportunity, which many other countries missed – to decisively prevent the spread of HIV infection and AIDS among the population at an early stage. But the chances of preventing the rapidly spreading epidemic decrease day by day.’

According to reports from international organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, the number of HIV-infected people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia increased from 30.000 in 1995 to 700.000 in the year 2000. The number of registered individuals with AIDS remains relatively low as by the end of February 2001; 1403 cases of the disease in Kazakhstan, 58 in Kyrgyzstan, 15 in Tajikistan, and 4 in Turkmenistan. Nevertheless, some experts claim that many cases of AIDS are not recorded in the official statistics on AIDS spreading. As was discussed at the conference, programs aimed at propagating a healthy lifestyle and prophylactics could significantly lower the risks of the epidemic spreading in the region. But governments do not have sufficient funds to implement effective prophylactic and preventive programs. A big part of the financing for existing programs comes from international organizations. Kazakhstan received major assistance—more than 610.000 US dollars from different international institutions since 1997. Feeling a certain pressure, participants to the conference acknowledged that greater effectiveness should be reached in granting financial assistance.

Central Asian states increasingly realize the danger that AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases bring. During the period 1998-2000, all the countries of the region approved national programs on fighting AIDS and the HIV infection. Officials who were present at the conference in Almaty claimed that their countries work out national strategies putting emphasis on development of coordinated actions in response to spreading of AIDS and HIV infection.

All the five countries made certain amendments to their Criminal Codes that deal with the problem of AIDS including criminal prosecution and providing confidentiality. Some of the amendments are directed at providing assistance to so-called risk groups, and by that encouraging them to ask for help instead of hiding from the society. As a result, homosexuality is no longer a crime in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, prohibitive measures on the use of drugs have been extenuated, but at the same time drug sale and circulation are being severely prosecuted by law.

In spite of the adoption of more liberal laws, control and repression still remain due to actions of executive branch employees as well as of employees of the healthcare system. ‘I constantly fear for my life because in the society that I live in, there is a lot of hatred towards homosexuals and police persecutes us using the most cruel measures,’ says Tolbion, a homosexual who has come out and who lives in Margilan—a small Uzbek sector of the Ferghana Valley in Kyrgyzstan.

By Konstantin Sudakov