You're reading: Yanukovych says Ukraine backs new global strategies to combat HIV/AIDS

Ukraine has achieved some success in combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but the situation with the spread of this disease in the country remains alarming, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

"There are the first encouraging signs in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ukraine. Five years ago, our country occupied first place in Eastern Europe in terms of the pace of the spread of the HIV infection, but today it has dropped to fourth position," reads an address by the president to the UN General Assembly in connection with its High-Level Meeting on AIDS on June 8-10.

Yanukovych noted that Ukraine had a national strategy to combat HIV/AIDS, which was approved at the legislative level and concerns society as a whole and every citizen in particular.

"The state believes that priority measures in overcoming the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ukraine are stepping up the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS, providing medical treatment for patients with HIV/AIDS who need it, ensuring the rights of people living with HIV, and forming a tolerant attitude to them in society. In this connection, Ukraine has adopted a law on countering the spread of diseases caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and ensuring there are legal and social protections for people living with HIV," Yanukovych said.

Nevertheless, the trend towards an increase in the number of HIV-infected people and AIDS patients remains in Ukraine, the president said.

He said he was sure that a successful fight against the spread of HIV infection in Ukraine required "the further concentration of efforts by the state and the whole of society, as well as an effective partnership with the UN, donors and other organizations."

Yanukovych also noted: "For us, this is an ambitious task that will require unprecedented leadership and efforts from Ukraine. That’s why, we are supporting the new UNAIDS strategy until 2015 ‘Getting To Zero,’ a global plan ‘Countdown To Zero’ on the prevention of new cases of HIV infection among children by 2015 while preserving the lives of mothers, as well as a new political declaration from the high-level meeting."