Europe The ‘tombstone’ AIDS advert that was aired in 1987 in the UK

Europe

The ‘tombstone’ AIDS advert that was aired in 1987 in the UK. ©

Like the USA, most Western and Central European countries have greatly reduced the rate of HIV transmission in medical settings (through blood screening and universal precautions) and from mother to child (through routine screening, use of preventive drugs and avoidance of breastfeeding). Countries that have implemented comprehensive harm reduction programmes, such as the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, have also maintained a very low rate of infection among injecting drug users. In some cases, the mass media have been used to reach the general population - for example in the UK's "Iceberg" and "Tombstone" campaigns, which were launched in 1987.

Yet despite these successes, the rate of new HIV diagnoses in Europe has risen over recent years. In Eastern Europe, most infections are among injecting drug users. Ukraine has the highest prevalence in Eastern Europe with around 1.1% of Ukrainian adults living with HIV.¹¹ Nevertheless, Ukraine has one of the most developed harm reduction programmes in the region with over 1,323 needle exchanges and it has offered opioid substitution therapy since 2004.^{12 13}

Though there are still barriers to accessing HIV prevention in Ukraine, it is a vastly better picture compared to Russia, another country where injecting drug use is driving the HIV epidemic. Only 70 needle exchanges serve an IDU population of 1.8 million and substitution therapy is illegal