ArmenPress
Nov 30 2004

HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS: From 1988 to December 1, 2004,
304 HIV carriers were registered in the Republic of Armenia, 288 of
them are citizens of the Republic of Armenia. The trend towards
increasing the number of HIV infection cases has been observed in the
country.
The number of HIV infection cases registered here in the last 4
years in the Republic of Armenia constitutes 50% of all the cases
registered in the previous years. It is worth mentioning that already
53 cases of HIV infection have been registered this year, which
exceeds the number of HIV infection cases registered in any of the
previous years. Men constitute a prevailing part in the total number
of HIV carriers 224 cases (77.8%), women represent 64 cases (22.2%).
288 reported cases include 4 cases of HIV infection among children
(1.4%). Like the entire world, Armenia also has the tendency in the
growth of number of infected women. In 2004, 13 cases of HIV-infected
women were registered, which is unprecedented for the statistics of
the country. The majority of the HIV carriers (77.4%) belongs to the
age group of 20-39.
The main modes of transmission driving the epidemic in the
Republic of Armenia are transmission through injecting drug usage
(53.2%) and transmission through heterosexual practices (38.5%).
Besides, cases of mother-to-child HIV transmission as well as HIV
transmission through blood and homosexual contacts have also been
registered in our country.
Sixty HIV-infected individuals are diagnosed with AIDS (whereof 7
are women and 1 is a child), whereof 30 diagnoses have been made
during the last two years. From the beginning of the epidemic 45
cases of death (the cases include 7 women and 1 child), from HIV/AIDS
have been registered. More than one third of these cases have been
registered during the last two years. The number of cases of HIV
infection (53), AIDS (17) and death from AIDS-related illnesses (11)
registered in 2004 is the highest in comparison with the number of
the cases registered in any of the previous years.
The maximum number of HIV carriers was reported in Yerevan: 143
cases, which constitute 49.7% of all the registered cases. Lori Marz
is at second place – 23 cases, which constitute 8% of all the
registered cases. However, HIV/AIDS situation assessment has shown
that the estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the
Republic is about 2800-3000.