UNAIDS Country Director outlines priorities in Uzbekistan for 2014

He said that the UNAIDS has two main priorities at the country level in regards to the prevention and control of the HIV epidemic in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The first priority is to improve access of HIV-positive people – people living with HIV – to antiretroviral treatment (ARV).

“As you know, ARV treatment is considered to be one of the most effective means to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV, while also interrupting HIV transmission from HIV-positive people to HIV-negative people. For that purpose, we are working closely with other UN agencies, including the WHO, in order to adopt a new combined-ARV guideline which has been issued by WHO in July 2013. We are working with the Republican AIDS Centre in order to adopt this guideline with national requirements. We are planning to conduct several trainings for doctors who provide ARV treatment, to ensure that all new requirements outlined in this guideline are fulfilled in the country, and that people who are affected by HIV/AIDS are getting the highest quality service,” he noted.

The second priority, Dr. Zohrabyan says, is to ensure that the maximum number of people who inject drugs receive high-quality, culturally-tailored interventions to prevent them from becoming HIV-positive or Hepatitis C-positive.

“For that purpose we are working with all UN agencies, in particular with UNODC and of course with national partners, to ensure that all available new technologies regarding behavioural change, testing and counselling are available to this key population in Uzbekistan. These are the two main priorities for UNAIDS in the Republic of Uzbekistan, but we have other very interesting projects that are bringing into the country new innovative ways of dealing with HIV prevention and control, including new testing technologies, new technologies to change high-risk behaviours among key population groups, and new means of improving treatment and care,” he added.