Drug Policies = Death: HIV/AIDS In Central and Eastern Europe. A report by the Drug Law and Health Policy Network on the Current Impact of Law and Policy on Spread of HIV in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.

Executive Summary

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Central and Eastern Europe is largely man-made. The epidemic, which has reached crisis proportions in this region, is driven primarily and overwhelmingly by injection drug use.

Injection drug use is the leading mode of transmission of HIV in this region. The best available data suggests that injection drug use is responsible for more than 60% of all new HIV transmissions in Eastern Europe and is the single leading cause of new infections in Central Europe, responsible for more than 25% of new infections in Central European countries . The damage, however, is not limited to drug users: HIV/AIDS is spread vertically far beyond injection drug users to the general population, including children. Nor is HIV/AIDS the only drug-related harm that threatens the people of Central and Eastern Europe: Hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis and overdose morbidity and mortality are among the several serious health consequences that flow from untreated substance abuse.

The transmission of HIV/AIDS and other drug-related harms can be stabilized and even reduced through the implementation of cost-effective public health interventions. Unfortunately, less than 5% - 10% of injection drug users (IDUs) in Central and Eastern Europe have access to such health interventions. In a majority of countries the only sources of care for IDUs or HIV/AIDS patients are international NGOs or local groups funded by international foundations. Although these international efforts are laudable, national policies and strategies need to be developed to expand prevention, treatment and health services to IDUs.

Various laws, policies and practices of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, however, erect barriers to the creation or expansion of programs that have been repeatedly proven to reduce drug use, HIV/AIDS and other drug-related harms.     These laws, policies and practices also tend to perpetuate harmful social stigmas that further marginalize persons with HIV/AIDS and drug users, thereby inhibiting access to health and social services that are a critical to prevention and treatment.

If the tide is to be turned and the health crisis in this region is to be contained (much less abated), dramatic reforms in laws, policies and practices across the region are urgently needed. Specifically, governments can stem the HIV/AIDS epidemic by taking steps to:

• Ensure that drug users have access to sterile syringes free from police harassment
• Support Harm Reduction measures for drug users
• Establish and expand drug treatment, especially methadone treatment, for drug-dependent persons
• Stop prison overcrowding by not incarcerating non-violent drug users and other nonviolent persons at risk of HIV

Resources

Full Report

Drug Policies = Death: HIV/AIDS in Central and Eastern Europe 

Country Reports

Armenia
Albania
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bulgaria
Georgia
Hungary
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Tajikistan
The Czech Republic
The Russian Federation
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
Uzbekistan