AIDS epidemic reaches crisis proportions due to excessive migration

About 3300 people in Moldova are infected with HIV, 292 of them caught the virus during 2001-2005, says minister of Health and Social Protection Ion Ababii, on the eve of the World AIDS Day, marked on December 1. This year, it is entitled “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise”, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the minister, the third national Program on prevention and control of HIV/AIDS virus and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) for 2006-2010, is underway in Moldova. In the last five years the virus is characterized by an increase in the number of people sexually infected, in 2001 this figure constituted 18.1%, while in 2005 –60.96%. At the same time, the virus is spread both among people in towns and people in rural areas, and largely affects the young people. Moldova holds one of the first places as regards the spreading tempo of the virus.