1st Conference on AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia opening in Moscow
01.01.70
The first conference on the issues of HIV/AIDS in countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia is opening in the Russian capital on Monday. The conference’s organising committee told Itar-Tass that 1,500 representatives from 47 countries will take part in it.
“For the first time doctors, scientists together with representatives of non-governmental organisations will work out the strategy of actions in fighting the virus in these regions,” the organising committee stressed. Russian Minister of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov and head of the Rospotrebnadzor Federal Service for the Protection of Consumer Rights and Human Welfare Gennady Onishchenko are expected to take the floor at the conference opening.
The organisers regard the Moscow conference as a preparatory stage of the forthcoming G8 summit in St. Petersburg during which the Group of Eight leaders will discuss, in particular, problems related to infectious diseases.
According to data of the World Health Organisation (WHO), a total of 335,000 HIV-infected people have been registered in Russia and there are over 1.5 million diseased with AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.