NGO slams Romanian government's indifference to AIDS sufferers

The Romanian anti-AIDS association (ARAS) has endorsed on open letter from sufferers of the disease to theRomanian health minister Eugen Nicolăescu calling for more government support. The first request is that people living with AIDS should not be ignored, rather that they should receive the support and treatment they need to survive.

The letter also warns that ARAS' needle exchange and methadone programs for heroin addicts are likely to close in June this year due to lack of funding. According to ARAS, the health ministry has already received 275 of these letters asking the government to fulfill promises and follow European directives on the treatment and prevention of HIV infection and the spread of AIDS. Numerous recommendations have also been submitted by ARAS and other NGOs to the government. Providing clean needles to intravenous drug users has been shown to dramatically reduce HIV infection rates, as well as the spread of other diseases such as Hepatitis C. According to ARAS, studies and official statistics show that in 2012, of the 17,000 intravenous drug users living in Bucharest, nearly 80 percent had Hepatitis C and 390 were diagnosed with HIV. editor@romania-insider.com