President: Ukraine Still Has One of Fastest-Growing AIDS Epidemics in Europe

In a World AIDS Day address, President Viktor Yushchenko said HIV continues to spread faster in Ukraine than in other European nations, and he called for new measures to tackle the escalating problem. The country has 100,000 reported cases, one-tenth of them children. Each day in Ukraine, 40 people are diagnosed with HIV while eight died from AIDS, he said. "Such figures are shocking. We can't be indifferent to them." Yushchenko called for a new HIV prevention campaign to target young people, and he said every Ukrainian has a duty to combat the epidemic. "The simplest and easiest means to lower the risk of HIV infection is marital fidelity and respect, values that have proven throughout the ages," he said, adding that society must be tolerant of people with HIV.

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