World AIDS Day: Three Poles diagnosed HIV-positive daily
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
01.12.2016 13:01
Three Poles find out they have the incurable HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) every day, the IAR news agency reported on Thursday, World AIDS Day.
Photo: who.int.
World AIDS Day is an annual drive initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to Anna Marzec-Bogusławska of Poland’s National AIDS Centre, some 35,000 Poles are infected with HIV, but only about half of them know it, which reflects a global pattern.
Dr Gottfried Hirnschall of the WHO said that worldwide “some 18 million infected with the virus receive medical treatment”, while as many as 14 million others remain unaware they are infected.
The WHO and National AIDS Centre encourage prevention and testing for the virus, which is mainly transmitted sexually and through contaminated needles.
WHO’s Hirnschall said if people do not know they have HIV they do not seek medical help and may die of AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), which develops in the most advanced stages of HIV infection.
Over the 30 years since AIDS treatment began in Poland, about 21,000 people have tested positive for HIV, 3,400 have developed AIDS, and 1,348 people have died of the disease.
As of July 2016, about 9,000 Poles, including 113 children, were being treated for HIV. (vb/rg)
Source: WHO, IAR, aids.gov.pl