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UNICEF: AIDS rampant in former Sov. Union
By William M. Reilly

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The spread of HIV/AIDS is faster in states of the former Soviet Union than anywhere else in the world and the victims are becoming younger and more female, said a UNICEF report released Wednesday.

The epidemic in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States has developed a "young face" as it moves virtually unchecked into the youth population, the U.N. Children's Fund warned in the 120-page report, "The Social Monitor," prepared by UNICEF's Innocenti Research Center in Florence, Italy, but which was released at U.N. headquarters in New York.

"The implications for the region's economic growth and social stability -- which are so dependent on its you people -- are alarming," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. "HIV/AIDS has a young face in this region. Young people account for most new infections and their low levels of HIV awareness, combined with increasingly risky behavior, herald a catastrophe.

"It is clear that the gravity of the situation has been underestimated and that precious time has been lost," she said. "Without immediate and radical action there is little to stop the spread of the disease."

At a briefing for reporters, Bellamy said the "time to act is now" to ensure that a tragedy similar to what has occurred in sub-Saharan Africa -- where HIV/AIDS has not only devastated populations young and old, but has "punctured a hole" in all the continent's development objectives -- can be avoided.

By the end of 2001, there were an estimated 1 million people with HIV/AIDS in the region, up from 420,000 in 1998, the report said. Between 1997 and 2000, almost 80 per cent of new infections were registered among people under 29.

In Estonia -- which has the region's highest rate of new infections -- the report said that 38 percent of registered infections are among those under the age of 20, and 90 percent among people under 30.

The report pointed to substance abuse, particularly drug injection, earlier sexual activity among youth and the growing number of sex workers as the underlying causes for the rapid spread of the disease in some countries.

The high prevalence of other sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis and gonorrhea, along with the rising number of infections among women and a generally low level of prevention awareness, suggest that conditions are ripe for the further spread of HIV, the report said.

National responses to the crisis in some of the hardest hit countries have had little effect, it said. But small-scale projects in some countries were changing behaviors of those in high-risk groups and attitudes towards those affected and could provide models for future action.

The reports suggested that ensuring that schools address HIV more openly and creating effective systems to track the epidemic were among areas for immediate policy action to curb the spread of the disease.

Bellamy said the study showed that up to "one-third of teens didn't know how to protect themselves during sex versus only 3 percent in France and in Germany 13 percent."

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