World AIDS Day
Description:
This action is carried out so that humanity does not forget about the danger posed by acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), so that the world understands that people who have contracted this disease need support and assistance.
In 2006, there were 928 HIV-infected people registered in Azerbaijan, and all these people are left alone with their terrible illness.
According to the director of the Azerbaijan AIDS Center Galib Aliyev, HIV infection began to be registered in Azerbaijan later than in many other countries of the world. Since 1987, isolated cases have been found only among foreigners. Among the citizens of our country, the first case of HIV infection was detected only in 1992. There are currently 928 people infected.
928 HIV-positive people are just official statistics, which, of course, do not reflect the real situation. Mr. Aliyev said that due to the HIV mutation, viruses of the first, second and third groups have already appeared. They differ in their level of aggression. The most dangerous of them is the third group, which takes a person’s life in a very short period of time.
Today, the main problem is the lack of medicines in Azerbaijan to support the lives of HIV-infected people. The Director of the Azerbaijan AIDS Center expressed hope that international organizations will help to resolve this issue at least partially. According to him, there are currently 15 laboratories in different parts of the country, in which anyone can anonymously and completely free donate blood for HIV detection.
Evidence that the number of cases of HIV infection in our country is growing is the results of the tests. So, if in 1987-1996, as a result of HIV testing for more than 3 million citizens of Azerbaijan, the infection was detected in only seven, then in the course of surveys from 1997 to November 2005, 120 infected people were found. And this is despite the fact that three times fewer of our citizens were subjected to medical examination.
Recently, another problem has emerged - sometimes AIDS is brought to our country by guest workers - people who go to work in Ukraine, Russia, Dubai.
More recently, AIDS was called the “plague of the twentieth century”, but with the advent of the new millennium, nothing has changed, and it still threatens man. To protect the population from this terrible disease, urgent measures must be taken now, and this implies multi-stage cooperation of all interested structures and support from the state.
Always remember that condemning or treating people living with HIV/AIDS simply drives the epidemic underground, creating ideal conditions for the spread of HIV. The only way to make progress against the epidemic is to replace shame with solidarity and fear with hope.