HIV Infection Rate Soars Due to Ignorance

03-Sep-07

Widespread ignorance about HIV among the medical profession as well as the general population is obstructing efforts to curb the spread of the virus, say NBCentralAsia experts.

Antiretroviral therapy, ART, only became available in Tajikistan last year through a United Nations grant, but 20 patients on the treatment have already died, according to an Avesta news agency report on August 21.

ART can slow down the rate at which the virus reproduces inside the body and can add 15 years to the life of an infected person.

Murodali Ruziev, director of the national AIDS control centre, says the patients on ART sought help from his institution only when it was already too late for the treatment to be effective. That reflects wider levels of ignorance and risky behaviour, even though information on HIV is made available through the media, he said.

HIV has spread rapidly in Tajikistan since the first case was recorded in 1991. According to official statistics, 162 of the total 872 people registered with the virus were diagnosed in the first half of this year. International organisations say that these statistics are over-optimistic and the real figures could be dozens of times higher.

A study by the national AIDS control centre found that more than 70 per cent of people understood how the virus is contracted and how to protect themselves, but Ruziev says people choose to ignore the dangers.

NBCentralAsia experts disagree with the claim that most people understand the risks of HIV, and argue that doctors are making matters worse by refusing to treat patients properly.

Murtazo Khidirov, the director of RAN, a non-government group that works with people particularly at risk of contracting the virus, believes public awareness remains extremely low and the medical profession is compounding the stigma against people with HIV.

Many doctors are poorly informed about HIV/AIDS, and some discriminate against people who reveal they are HIV-positive when they seek medical treatment.

Firuz Shukurov, a doctor in Tajikistan, says the vast majority of those in the medical profession are frightened of people with HIV.

“As soon as a doctor finds out that someone is HIV-positive, he won’t even touch them or try to help them,” he said.

Deputy health minister Azam Mirzoev agrees that more should be done to help change people’s attitudes. Since not everyone can watch television or listen to the radio because electricity supplies are irregular, he suggests promoting health education in schools. The education ministry is introducing lessons on healthy living as part of the national curriculum, including a course on HIV/AIDS.

Intravenous drug users are most at risk of contracting the virus and make up 60 per cent of HIV-positive people in Tajikistan. Labour migrants are also particularly vulnerable, as are their wives, who tend to live in rural areas without access to health information.

(NBCentralAsia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region)