Number of HIV Cases in Kazakhstan’s Pavlodar, Aktyubinsk Regions Rising
The number of HIV-positive individuals in northern Kazakhstan's Pavlodar Region has increased 200% since the beginning of the year, Fedor Fesenko, head of the region's center for AIDS prevention told the Interfax news agency on Saturday. Half of Pavlodar's 364 infected residents are drug addicts, and according to official estimates, 3,000 of the region's 300,000 residents take drugs. Estimating that the number of HIV-positive individuals in Pavlodar may reach 1,400 next year, the center for AIDS prevention is planning in September to open a medical center focused on treating drug problems (Interfax/BBC, 8/11). Additionally in the first six months of 2001, a total of 31 HIV-positive people were reported in Kazakhstan's Aktyubinsk Region, with three additional infected individuals identified thus far in August. All of these individuals are drug addicts (Kazahkstanskaya Pravda/BBC, 8/11).
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