HIV problem highlighted on world AIDS day

TALLINN - The prevalance of AIDS in the Baltics has been highlighted by world AIDS day this week.

The Press Association reported that the AIDS rate in Europe has more than doubled since the year 2000.

Estonia and Latvia have two of the highest levels of HIV and AIDS in Europe, alongside the U.K., Portugal, Moldova and Ukraine.

The World Health Organization released a report in honor of world AIDS day, which took place on Tuesday, found that the AIDS rate was significantly higher in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. The rate was found to be even higher in the central Asian countries that were also a part of the study.

The majority of new AIDS cases have come from drug users using unclean needles.

Somewhere between 50 and 90 percent of Estonia's intravenous drug users are HIV positive - a total of around 7,000 people.