HIV case numbers still high: Experts

  • 2007-04-13
  • BNS
The number of new HIV cases has remained high over the past three years, and may now have extended into the general community, an expert meeting heard on April 12.

A meeting of experts from the government and interest groups at the Ministry of Social Affairs received an overview of the current state of the HIV epidemic.

According to recent figures, the number of new HIV cases continued to increase in 2006, as it has each year since 2005.
More than half of the new cases of HIV infections last year were transmitted sexually. The situation is especially serious in Ida-Viru county, where there are grounds to believe that the epidemic has spread into the general community.
Ida-Viru was identified as a priority area for prevention strategies during 2007 and 2008.