You're reading: Hromadske: Living with HIV in occupied Donbas

Editor’s Note: This a Spektr project, with the support of the Russian Language News Exchange. This project has been adapted by Hromadske International.

There are around 18,000 people with an HIV-positive status living in the separatist-held territories in Donetsk Oblast, according to data from the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV. Across Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Health, there were 244,000 people at the end of 2018, and only 141,000 of them have been registered with medical institutions. This is not a disaster, this is an epidemic. But for many involved, this word is just a working term, just another thing to tolerate, just a part of life.

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