Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 24 / Trend E. Ostapenko /
Globally, the number of new HIV cases is falling. However, the number of HIV-infected people tripled in Central Asia and Eastern Europe in 2000-2009, the U.N. reported with reference to a new report by the U.N. Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
There were 1.4 million HIV-infected patients in Central Asia and Eastern Europe in 2009, compared to 530,000 in 2000. About 90 percent of all new infections fell to Russia and Ukraine.
The report said that the number of deaths related to AIDS is rapidly increasing in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Roughly 76,000 people died from AIDS in the region last year.
The highest rate of HIV among adults in Central Asia and Eastern Europe falls to Ukraine. The figure hits 1.1 percent.
The rate of HIV infection increased by more than 25 percent in five regional countries - Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia - from 2000-2009.
The report added that over one-third (37 percent) of Russia's 1.8 million drug users have HIV.