Ukraine
Total population | 45,963,000* |
Registered HIV cases | 202,787** |
Estimated HIV cases | 350 000 |
Newly registered cases in 2011 | 21,177** |
* CIS Interstate Committee for Statistics, December 2009.
** Ukrainian National AIDS Centre, Ministry of Health, data as of January 2012.
*** ‘Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic', UNAIDS, August 2010
Country Background
A country of plains and mountains, Ukraine shares its borders with Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. The land that is now Ukraine has been settled for more than six millennia. In the 10th century, Ukraine became the centre of Kyivan Rus’—the cornerstone of Slavic national identity. With periods of rule by various groups, Ukraine enjoyed independence from 1917–1920, before being absorbed into the Soviet Union. Ukraine again gained independence in 1991 and installed Kyiv as its capital. Although 78% of the population of Ukraine is made up of ethnic Ukrainians, close ties with Russia have made Ukraine home to a large Russian diaspora. Although Ukrainian is the only official language, Russian is widely spoken and Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the dominant religion.
As part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was the second largest economy and today ranks among the world’s top 30. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine experienced a long period of economic turmoil. Although the economy is currently growing, an underdeveloped infrastructure and high levels of bureaucracy have hampered development. Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko, was elected in 2005 as a result of the Orange Revolution, which included protests and political events lasting from the end of 2004 through the beginning of 2005.
HIV Situation
Currently, Ukraine has the highest prevalence of HIV in Europe with an epidemic concentrated among vulnerable groups, particularly injecting drug users. As a major migration route between Asia and Europe, Ukraine has high rates of human trafficking, sex work and injecting drug use, all of which further fuel the epidemic. Additionally, the epidemic is growing among men who have sex with men and is quickly spreading into the general population via heterosexual transmission.
Although the Ukrainian government has shown support for HIV prevention and treatment initiatives, efforts are hampered by discrimination towards high-risk groups, the poor co-ordination and integration of services, and insufficient human resource capacities, as well as an insufficient budget allocated for HIV programmes by the state. Limited co-ordination between HIV, tuberculosis and drug treatment services has resulted in a fragmented approach to dealing with the growing epidemic.