A TEST ONE HOPES NOT TO FAIL

International organisations are raising the alarm - more than 100,000 new cases of HIV appear in Europe every year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), overall there are currently 2.3 million HIV-infected people in Europe. In many countries of Europe this number continues to rise each year, despite expectations to the contrary. 

According to rough estimates, one in three Europeans infected with HIV does not even suspect that he has the disease. The immune-deficiency virus may not make itself known for many years, which means that half of those infected only find out that they have it at a late stage. A late diagnosis leads to increased mortality from the disease. Specialists believe express testing is the best method for early diagnosis of HIV currently available. This method enables specialists to determine in 15 to 20 minutes if a person is HIV-positive or not.

Each year a group of European organizations call on Europeans to join forces and carry out mass HIV testing. This year the European HIV Testing Week will take place from November 21-28.

The initiative hopes to spread awareness of express testing as a simple, cheap, and effective method of diagnosis;to prevent late discovery of the disease;to increase public awareness of methods of HIV-transmission, effective preventative steps, and HIV treatments; and to remove the stigma associated with HIV and to fight discrimination against HIV-positive people.

This action, which includes the entire European region of the WHO, is now joined by Azerbaijan.

Sixteen international organizations contributed to the first HIV test week in 2013. More than 500 state, private, and social organizations took part, including the Azerbaijani Health Ministry's Centre for the Fightagainst AIDS. 

As part of thetesting weekthe centre is carrying out a large-scale program with the participation of various government agencies, regional authorities, and the private and non-government sectors. 

As director of the Centre for the Fight against AIDS Esmira Almammadova told R+, the problem is that many people do not know they carry HIV, and may live in this symptom-less state for up to 10 or 12 years, posing a potential danger to those around them. One of the most important tasks in the battle with HIV/AIDS is the prevention of new cases of infection. Early diagnosis allows the spread of HIV to be prevented. Each person should know his HIV status.

According to Almammadova, the testing weekcampaigns have several goals. These include: testing large sections of the population, including people at a high risk of infection; coordinating the efforts of state and public organisations to combat the HIV epidemic; sharing experience in testing with other countries; evaluating the benefits of testing practices; and increasing public awareness. She stressed that Azerbaijan provides free and anonymous testing, as well as free treatment, care, and support for those infected with HIV. 

There are plans to organize temporary voluntary centres for HIV testing and consultation at 15 universities, areas with large migrant populations, and large shopping centres in Baku,Ganca, Mingacevir, Sumqayit and other cities. Other measures will include the showing of special video-clips on public transport, the distribution of brochures and booklets, and presentations by specialists of the Centre for the Fight against AIDS at universities and on local television. 

Official statistics for HIV-infection in Azerbaijan, however, do not give cause for extreme concern. The primary means of HIV infection remain injection drug use (more than 60 per cent of cases)andunprotected sex (about 30 per cent); the other cases do not pose a risk of spreading the disease at epidemic levels. 

As the national Centre for the Fight against AIDS told R+, from 1987 to May 2014 4,604 people were diagnosed with HIV in Azerbaijan. Out of those, 4,445 were citizens of Azerbaijan, and 159 were foreigners.The total number of infected was made up by 3,547 men and 1,057 women.The virus entered its AIDS stage in 1,402 people (1380 of whom were citizens); 625 died, of whom 616 were residents of Azerbaijan.

There are plans to test over 15,000 people in Azerbaijan during the testing week. The HIV-prevention campaign will reach two to three million people.