World AIDS Day
HIV/AIDS Awareness Class, School No. 43, Erebuni, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / UNICEF 2005
To mark World AIDS Day, Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts a comprehensive post of statistics and commentary on the situation in Armenia. Although the figures look quite low on first glance, the real number of HIV-positive people is believed to be 10 times higher.
From 1988 to 1 December 2007, 528 HIV cases had been registered in the Republic of Armenia among its citizens. 66 new cases of HIV infection were registered in 2006; and 99 - in 2007. Males constitute a majority in the total number of HIV cases - 396 cases (75.0%), females make up 132 cases (25.0%). 528 reported cases include 11 cases of HIV infection among children (2.1%).
AIDS diagnosis was made to 206 patients with HIV, of whom 40 are women and 6 are children. From the beginning of the epidemic, 119 death cases have been registered among HIV/AIDS patients (the cases include 19 women and 3 children).
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The overwhelming majority of the HIV-positive individuals (72.3%) belong to the age group of 20-39.
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The main modes of HIV transmission are through injecting drug use (47.9%) and heterosexual practices (45.1%). Besides, there are also registered cases of mother-to-child HIV transmission as well as through blood transfusions and homosexual practices
Incidentally, two articles on HIV/AIDS that I wrote for UNICEF are here and here.
