HIV/AIDS remains a problem in Ferghana Valley

HIV/AIDS remains a problem in the densely populated Ferghana Valley, shared by Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and home to some 10 million people. There are more than 700 HIV-infected people in the region, according to health officials. "The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in [the Uzbek part of] the Ferghana Valley is 273 cases and there is a tendency for growth," Bakhtiyor Niyazmatov, chief state sanitary physician of Uzbekistan, told IRIN from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. According to the Uzbek National HIV/AIDS Centre, there were 24 officially registered new cases of the infection in 2001 in the three eastern provinces of Andijan, Ferghana and Namangan, located in the Uzbek part of the Ferghana Valley. In 2002 that figure rose to 65 and in 2003 it almost tripled, reaching 184. Meanwhile, the situation in the Kyrgyz part of the valley, that is lowlands of the three southern Kyrgyz provinces of Jalal-Abad, Osh and Batken, seems to be stabilising. "The HIV/AIDS situation in the south seems to be stabilising. It is more or less stable," Ainagul Osmonova, deputy head of the Kyrgyz AIDS centre, told IRIN from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. According to the Kyrgyz AIDS centre, there were 67 newly registered cases in the first six months of 2003, while in the same period of 2004 that figure stood at 68. "We think that programmes on harm reduction and information campaigns which were started in 1992-93 produced a positive outcome. Kyrgyzstan was amongst the first Central Asian and CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] countries to implement needle exchange and [methadone] substitution programmes," Osmonova said. There were 318 officially registered cases in southern Kyrgyzstan by 1 July 2004, of which 289 were in the southern Osh province, 22 in Jalal-Abad province and seven in Batken province. However, UNAIDS experts suggest the real number could be 10 times the official figure, Osmonova conceded. As for the Tajik part of the valley, low lying areas of the northern Tajik province of Sughd, HIV/AIDS remains a problem there as well. According to the Tajik national HIV/AIDS control centre, there were 115 officially registered cases of the infection in the province by July 2004. In just six months of 2004 alone, 39 new cases were registered, compared to 76 cases registered from 1991 to 2003. The main mode of HIV/AIDS transmission in the region is through injecting drug usage fuelled by the narcotics trade from neighbouring Afghanistan, the world's top opium producer, health officials agreed. In the Kyrgyz part of the valley it accounts for more than 85 percent of HIV-infections. Osh city is one of the main drug transit hubs in the region. "International experts say 10 percent of the drugs trafficked through the transit country are retained within that country. Drugs are very cheap in Osh and unfortunately some young people get involved in the drug trade and subsequent drug abuse," Osmonova stressed. One injecting dose of heroin in the area is equal to the cost of a beer. The situation is no different in the Tajik part of the region. "Around 70 percent of HIV/AIDS cases in the area have been transmitted through injecting drug use," Azamjon Mirzoev, head of the Tajik HIV/AIDS control centre, told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. One of the most problematic issues in the Tajik part of the valley is a low level of HIV/AIDS awareness among the local population. "The awareness level is very low, especially in rural areas. But there are a lot of labour migrants going to Russia and there has been a case in which a migrant infected his wife with HIV/AIDS after returning from there," Mirzoev said. According to the Tajik HIV/AIDS centre, the estimated level of awareness was around 25 percent in urban areas of Sughd, while in rural areas that figure stood at some 10 percent. In an effort to help the country to address the issue, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria approved US $1,474,520 worth of support to Tajikistan for a strategic plan of the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemics and $2,508,720 for reducing the burden of HIV/AIDS and malaria until 2005. Uzbekistan also submitted an application for assistance from the Global Fund due to its own lack of resources and funds, which has been subsequently approved. "This will allow the implementation of the strategic programme on preventing HIV/AIDS spread in the country for the years 2003 to 2006," Niyazmatov noted. Kyrgyzstan is also set to get US $17.5 million from the Global Fund between 2004 and 2010 for the fight against HIV/AIDS, according to Osmonova. Meanwhile, the World Bank is set to start its regional $25 million HIV/AIDS project for Central Asia in the coming years.