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May 16, 2006

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

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CONTENT:

1 - CENTRAL ASIA: UNAIDS launches key regional conference

2 - NEPAL: HIV hospice for gay and transgender men offers hope

1 - CENTRAL ASIA: UNAIDS launches key regional conference

ANKARA, 15 May (PLUSNEWS) - The first HIV/AIDS conference on Russia, eastern

European and Central Asia kicked off in Moscow on Monday, bringing together

1,500 participants from the region to discuss the epidemic. The conference,

" Facing the Challenge " , is a milestone in Central Asia's response in fighting

the infection.

" This is the first ever big AIDS conference which brings together scientists,

activists and policy-makers from the region, " Henning Mikkelsen, Director for

the European Regional Support Team of Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

(UNAIDS), said from Moscow.

UNAIDS is organising the conference in conjunction with the Federal Service of

the Russian Federation for Surveillance in Consumer Rights Protection and Human

Welfare, AIDS Infoshare and International AIDS Society (IAS).

" There's more interest and movement in the region now, which is bound to have an

impact throughout the region. And for a good reason - it is indicated that this

region has the fastest growing epidemic in the world, " he added.

Throughout Central Asia, the number of HIV/AIDS cases has risen 20 times in less

than a decade. The epidemic continues to grow in eastern Europe and Central

Asia, with the number of people living with HIV reaching 1.6 million in 2005.

And the virus has claimed almost twice as many lives in 2005 compared with 2003.

But, the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia are still in the early

stages of the pandemic. HIV/AIDS is driven largely by the strong increase of

intravenous drug users in the region, while returning migrant workers, as well

as prostitution, are also spreading the infection into the general population.

" The epidemic is only 10 years old in this region, so it is only now we are

starting to see people coming down with AIDS in larger numbers. The first wave

of infected people is usually young male intravenous drug users and the second

wave their sexual partners. "

" A particular problem for the people coming down with AIDS is that they are

dependent on narcotics, so we need to look at how we can improve their life

situation so that they can comply with the treatment - we need to scale up

access to treatment in this region, " Mikkelsen said.

Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous nation, has the highest recorded number

of registered HIV/AIDS cases of the five republics. In 1999, 28 people were

diagnosed with the virus - in 2005, 2,016 new infections were reported, bringing

the official total to 7,800, almost 280 times the figure in 1999.

Kazakhstan is also experiencing a wave of new HIV cases, with its numbers

tripling between 2000 and 2004. In 2004, 30 percent or more of all new reported

HIV infections in the sparsely populated country were due to unprotected sex,

especially among young people engaging in commercial sex.

" We need to remember that the epidemic is always ahead of us and prevention is

something we need to push a lot for. We need to do it in a comprehensive way

because AIDS-related and sexual behaviour issues are still taboo and [often]

denied here [in the region], " Mikkelsen added.

Young people have become highly vulnerable to HIV infection in the wake of rapid

social and economic change in the Central Asian republics. Up to 75 percent of

the reported infections between 2000 and 2004 were amongst people younger than

30 years old.

Despite those figures, only a handful of countries have serious programmes in

place to combat the virus's spread.

" Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have a relatively good economic situation because

of their oil and natural resources and should be able to invest in it

themselves. "

" But there is need for more support for countries like Tajikistan and

Kyrgyzstan. We need to attract more donors, because the epidemic is not going to

go away soon, so we need to look at how we can find a long-term sustainable

financial basis for them, " the UNAIDS official maintained.

The conference is taking place two weeks ahead of the 2006 High Level Meeting on

AIDS in New York, scheduled for 31 May to 2 June.

" I hope people from this region will attend in New York too, to talk about the

epidemic here. It's not just Africa or in Asia, it is also a problem in Central

Asia and I hope the conference [in New York] will bring more attention from

international society to this region, " Mikkelsen said.

[ENDS]

2 - NEPAL: HIV hospice for gay and transgender men offers hope

KATHMANDU, 16 May (PLUSNEWS) - There's no signboard outside the simple

white-washed building at the end of the road - and neighbours have little idea

of who its occupants are. But in this traditional Hindu society, where open

discussion about HIV/AIDS remains largely taboo, that's not surprising.

Behind the well-trimmed lawn and flower beds of the two-story building lies

Nepal's only hospice dedicated to caring for men who have sex with men (MSM)

infected with HIV/AIDS, a particularly marginalised group in this impoverished

nation of 28 million.

Funded by the Elton Foundation and French NGO Sidaction, the hospice,

located in a working class residential district of the capital Kathmandu,

provides one of the few rays of hope for MSM members living with AIDS.

" I thought my life was over and even tried to commit suicide, " Devya Gurang, a

24-year-old transgender person from the western city of Pokhara, said, recalling

in vivid detail when she learned that she was infected with the virus.

Working the brothel circuit in the Indian film capital of Mumbai and popular for

her effeminate features, she once serviced up to 25 men a day, and conceded to

having unprotected sex on more than one occasion. Not knowing what to do, and

with little money, she returned to Nepal only to find a less than hospitable

welcome.

" People looked down upon me as a transgender person ... Life was and continues

to be terribly difficult, " Devya maintained. " Nobody will give me a job and the

fact that I am HIV positive only makes things worse. "

A resident of the hospice since it first opened its doors over a year ago, she

now looks upon it as her home, where she assists other transgender or gay men

living with the virus.

Ramnath Shah, another caretaker at the hospice from Saptari district, close to

the Indian border, agrees. " Life was unbearable for me there, " he said,

referring to his staunchly conservative village. " People didn't accept me, " he

explained, recalling how he too found sanctuary at the Kathmandu hospice, where

residents receive room and board, along with literacy training and counselling,

as well as antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and periodic group meetings to provide

psychological support.

For the past five months, Devya has been receiving a daily dosage of ARVs,

including Nevirapine and Duovir, drugs that otherwise would have been out of

reach to her financially, while a doctor comes by once a week to check on her

and other residents' progress.

" I still have recurrent bouts of diarrhoea and am not feeling very good - but at

least now I have a chance to get better, " she said.

Others, however, are doing less well. Chinak Tharu, 34, another resident from

the midwestern district of Rupandhi and now physically disabled, laments he is

paying the ultimate price for having unprotected sex. " I'm feeling better now.

Before this I could barely walk, " the five-month hospice resident said.

The brainchild of Sunil Pant, the Director of Nepal's Blue Diamond Society

(BDS), the hospice, already operating on meagre resources, can mean the

difference between life and death for some.

" The situation is particularly poor given the double stigmatisation of being gay

and HIV positive in Nepal, " the NGO director said, explaining how some people

had actually been driven out of their homes by their families and communities.

" The general understanding of HIV is that people have been infected by taking

part in immoral or dirty behaviour, " he said.

According to the United Nations, there are an estimated 70,000 people between

the ages of 15 and 49 currently living with the virus in the Himalayan kingdom -

with most people not even knowing if they are infected. But Nepal's HIV/AIDS

epidemic is considered to be " concentrated " in nature, meaning a prevalence rate

of less than 1 percent, concentrated among specific vulnerable groups such as

injecting drug users, commercial sex workers (CSW) and their clients, as well as

members of the MSM community.

" These are the groups that have shown high-risk behaviour and that's usually

where a general epidemic will begin, " Aurorita Mendoza, Country Coordinator for

the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), warned.

But while it is difficult to estimate how many HIV cases have actually been

registered within Nepal's largely underground MSM community, it's clear more

needs to be in terms of public awareness. There has yet to be any comprehensive

study of the group, with many people remaining reluctant to divulge their HIV

status, the UNAIDS official said.

[ENDS]

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May 16, 2006