From: Abraham Rein (ARein@sorosny.org)
Date: Thu May 17 2001 - 13:49:28 EDT
HEALTH OFFICIAL IN KAZAKHSTAN WARNS OF AIDS EPIDEMIC. For the
second time within one month, a health official in Kazakhstan
has warned that the country may be on the verge of an AIDS
epidemic. Turar Chaklikov, who heads the national center to
prevent the spread of the disease, told a regional conference
in Almaty on 16 May that 1,700 persons in Kazakhstan are
officially registered as having tested HIV positive, more
than in the other four Central Asian states combined,
Interfax reported. He said Kyrgyzstan has 58 persons
registered as HIV positive, Tajikistan 15, and Turkmenistan
four. On 20 April, State Agency for Healthcare Issues
Chairman Zhaksylyk Doskaliev told Interfax that the number of
new registrations of persons testing HIV positive increased
by 177 during the first quarter of 2001, raising the total
number of cases by over 10 percent. It is not clear to what
extent the high incidence of HIV infections in Kazakhstan
reflects the increase in that country in drug abuse. Last
November, it was reported that the number of drug addicts has
risen by 300 percent over the previous five years. LF
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