Here are some facts and figures about HIV and AIDS in the region:
* Since 2001, HIV prevalence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has risen by 66 percent, bringing the number of people living with HIV to 1.5 million in 2008 and making it the only region where HIV prevalence clearly remains on the rise.
* The epidemic here is concentrated among people who inject drugs, sex workers and their sexual partners.
* Russia and Ukraine are experiencing especially severe and growing epidemics. Experts estimate that more than two thirds of people with HIV in the region live in Russia, and combined with Ukraine, these two countries account for more than 90 percent of the region’s total infections.
* Around 1.6 percent of adults in the Ukraine has HIV. The infection rate in Russia is 1.1. percent.
* Large numbers of people with HIV live in Belarus (13,000), Kazakhstan (12,000) and Uzbekistan (16,000). Latvia has an HIV rate of 0.8 percent, while Estonia has an HIV rate of 1.3 percent.
* Despite increases in the number of people receiving HIV treatment in recent years, access to AIDS drugs known as antiretroviral treatment (ART) remains relatively low in eastern Europe and Central Asia, with only 23 percent of adults who need them getting them. This compares to an average of 42 percent in low- and middle-income countries.
* Evidence suggests that people who inject drugs are often the least likely in this region to receive AIDS drugs.
