Every day 17 people die of AIDS in Ukraine. These are mostly young people. The problem is that lots of money is spent on fighting AIDS and a great number of organizations work with this issue, but, according to experts who study the spread of AIDS in the world, the growth rate of HIV-positive people in Ukraine remains the highest in Europe. According to the WHO, there are 360 thousand HIV-positive people now in Ukraine, but only 106 thousand of them are under dispensary supervision. This means that only 30 percent of HIV-positive people know about their status.
“Ukraine ranks first [in Europe in terms of spread of HIV], and HIV has spread to 1.3 percent of population. Today in Ukraine 55 people will be diagnosed with HIV and, according to estimates, this number will soon be twice as large. Today, unfortunately, 17 Ukrainians will die of AIDS. These are very big numbers for a country with population of 46 million,” said Anna Shakarishvili, Coordinator for the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine.
Moreover, according to experts, Ukraine will not be able to reach the 2015 goal that was previously set — to slow the spread of AIDS and HIV. This means thousands of lives lost, including those of friends and relatives. The worst thing is that every year the number of HIV-positive children in Ukraine grows.
NGOs organized the Race for Life in Kyiv on October 9 to draw public attention to the spread of HIV among Ukrainian children. The organizers had a goal of raising funds for the treatment, care, and support of sick children. The race was organized by the All-Ukrainian Charity Organization “Equal to equal” in partnership with the UN Office in Ukraine and Kyiv City Administration. According to Dmytro Vasiliev, managing partner of Publicity Ukraine, the raised funds will be transferred to the Department for Treatment of HIV-positive Children at the National Children’s Specialized Clinic OKHMATDYT, the Kyiv City Center for Prevention and Fighting AIDS, and the Kyiv city centers for rehabilitation of HIV/AIDS-positive children.
Those who registered for the race and bought a T-shirt (which cost 50 hryvnias for an adult and 30 hryvnias for a child) made a charity contribution to the noble cause. Those who wanted could make greater donations. The target audience was young people because they are at greatest risk of becoming infected.
This is not the first such marathon in Kyiv, and now NGOs decided to revive the tradition and turn it into an annual event. They hope that this will inspire the whole of Ukraine.
