Eastern Europe and central Asia is the only region in the world where the HIV epidemic continued to rise rapidly, with a 29% increase in annual new HIV infections between 2010 and 2018. The epidemic is concentrated predominantly among key affected populations - in particular, people who inject drugs - yet there is low coverage of harm-reduction and other HIV prevention programmes in key countries within the region.
The scaling up of treatment and prevention programmes, particularly for key affected populations, is an urgent priority.
Last full review:
10 April 2017
The HIV epidemic in this region continues to grow with low treatment access and threats to HIV funding undermining progress.
The Russian Federation (Russia) has the largest HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, reaching its millionth case of HIV in 2016.
Ukraine has the second-largest HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and recent gains have been threatened by conflict in the region.
