Many people infected with HIV in Kyrgyzstan are not aware of their disease. Deputy Health Minister Bubuzhan Arykbaeva said at a meeting of the Committee on International Affairs, Defense, Security and Migration of Parliament.
According to her, the number of HIV-positive people has not decreased since 2004.
«We have involved mobile clinics in detection of the infected. According to our calculations, the number of people who do not know about their diagnosis is about 12,000. To date, 9,608 people infected with HIV have been detected. We are intensifying the search with the help of mobile teams,» Arykbaeva said.
Deputy Ulan Pirmatov asked when it was planned to identify all those infected. «There are cases of infection through medical needles. Are such cases registered?» he asked.
In response, Bubuzhan Arykbaeva said that the total number of Kyrgyzstanis infected with HIV is 13,743 people, of whom 866 are foreigners.
«Over the past 15 years we have managed to reduce the share of parenteral transmission from 39 to 1.8 percent. However, the number of cases of infection through sexual contact has increased,» she noted.
