Ukraine commemorated the sixth annual World AIDS Day AIDS on Dec. 1. A symbolic fir tree was decorated near the HIV/AIDS monument outside the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra HIV/AIDS Clinic close to Arsenalna metro station. Each New Year's ball has the name of a Ukrainian city and the number of people living with HIV/AIDS there. Some 40,000 signatures were gathered to attract Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's attention to the problem in Ukraine."In 2010, over 19,000 Ukrainians became HIV positive. Each year this figure grows in geometrical progression. Ukraine is No.1 in European HIV epidemic spread. Every day, 12 Ukrainians die from AIDS. This fir tree should symbolize their hopes for the better future in the next year," said Volodymyr Zhovtyak, head of the coordination council of the All-Ukrainian Network of People living with HIV. "We would like the president to pay more attention to this problem."Some Hr 362 million from the state budget is used to buy drugs for HIV-positive people in 2010. In 2011, the state plans to spend some Hr 469 million to prevent HIV/AIDS in Ukraine.(Photo: AP, www.network.org.ua)
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