24.04.2017

ECUO POSITIONAL STATEMENT regarding application of European approaches to HIV treatment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

We, ECUO Members, are firmly committed to sending our advocacy efforts to bring HIV treatment standards for adults, adolescents and children in our countries to the European ones.
Member countries of ICO “Eastern Europe and Central Asia Union of People Living with HIV” are Europe! According to the WHO and International Bank classification, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan belong to the European Region.
We, people living with HIV, are talking about the importance of quality ART using in complying with the basic universally recognized human right to health, as we know firsthand about the consequences and side effects of taking obsolete drugs for HIV treatment that lead to disability and death. That’s why it’s extremely important to introduce in the countries of our region the application of innovative medicines of molecular integrase inhibitors class in children, adolescents and adults’ treatment.
Our advocacy strategy will be aimed at enabling our countries’ permission authorities to change the national treatment protocols as soon as possible, invite manufacturers to register innovative drugs, and add them to the list of vital and essential medicines.
We, the community of HIV-positive people from 15 countries, are members of a large European family. Therefore, in all EECA countries, HIV treatment standards should be consistent with the European approaches identified by the protocol of European AIDS Clinical Society’s in 2016 as much as possible.
Approved by the General Meeting of ICO “East Europe and Central Asia Union of People Living with HIV” (section 3.4 of the Protocol)