The HIV Situation in Afghanistan: an Overview

The article examines the HIV situation in Afghanistan since the 2000s and up to the present. The main ways of HIV transmission, the problem of disease detection and treatment are considered. Despite HIV is not the key problem of Afghanistan today and the acuteness of the problem can be seen only in the key population (mostly injecting drug users), the deficit of the medical assistance plays a significant role in spreading of the infection. One of the important aspects is that the population of Afghanistan gained access to the HIV testing and the highly active anti-retroviral therapy only in 2000s; Afghanistan is also one of the last in the region in the condom usage. According to the UNAIDS reports, the HIV situation worsen, but the last report shows a notable increase of anti-HIV therapy coverage. Today this access is mainly granted by the international organisations under the authority of UNAIDS, but only in 8 cities, which can restrict the access for the rural area population. A possible forecast of the situation with the further spreading of HIV infection in Afghanistan is given at the end of the article. Albeit the reached progress in testing and treatment, the rate of HIV infection’s spreading is according to the authors unlikely to decrease, which is caused by an unstable political and economic situation and the fact that Afghanistan is the citadel of drug production. Despite the slow outbrake of the epidemic out of the key population, high growth of the sexual and mother-to-child transmission roles is not expected.

Keywords

HIV, drug addiction, Afghanistan, Afghan armed conflict

Received

27.04.2019

Publication date

29.04.2019

Number of characters

11989

Cite

GOST	Kochetkov A., Rabush T. The HIV Situation in Afghanistan: an Overview // Asia and Africa Today – 2019. – Issue 4 C. 47-50 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://asaf-today.ru/S032150750004383-3-1 (circulation date: 26.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S032150750004383-3
MLA	Kochetkov, A., Rabush, Taisiya "The HIV Situation in Afghanistan: an Overview." Asia and Africa Today 4 (2019):47-50. DOI: 10.31857/S032150750004383-3
APA	Kochetkov A., Rabush T. (2019). The HIV Situation in Afghanistan: an Overview. Asia and Africa Today (4), pp.47-50 DOI: 10.31857/S032150750004383-3

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