Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- With the International Women’s Day celebration approaching, it is important to stress out the fact that one of the leading causes of death and disease of women of reproductive age worldwide, HIV represents a growing threat for women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Women make up a rising proportion of people living with HIV in the region – up to 50% in some countries, the UN Information Center in Tashkent said a press release.

In recent years, the number of HIV cases that were acquired through heterosexual contact has increased by 150% in the region. In Russia, the number of young women with HIV aged 15-24 is two times higher than among men of the same age.

“Women are especially at risk of HIV due to multiple factors such as economic vulnerability, difficulties in negotiating for safe sex, fearing or experiencing violence,” says Jean-Elie Malkin, UNAIDS Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia a.i. “In extreme cases they combine all vulnerabilities associated with drug use, sex work, social marginalisation and stigma and discrimination which prevent them from accessing the HIV services.”

For these cases, special interventions need to be based on evidence on what will have the best impact on women and girls in the concentrated epidemics of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including access to treatment, care and support, as well as specific HIV prevention measures for women. “If we want to stop new infections among women and if we want to address the problems faced women already infected, we have to look at the epidemic through the women’s eyes and tailor the response accordingly,” said Natalia Tsunic, representative of People Living with HIV in Russia.

Julia Lasker, Russian singer and HIV-activist, who just returned from New York, where she participated in panel discussion on HIV and Women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia organized as part of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, stated that “there is a huge need to openly discuss the issue in the society, encourage people to test for HIV, call young people to protect themselves and their loved ones, call for tolerance. And I feel personally responsible for many young girls whom I may prevent form being infected just due to a lack of knowledge and understanding the danger. If I can get this message to at least a few people, it's a step in achieving the goal of zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination.”

This panel discussion was co-chaired by the government of Russia and UNAIDS in follow up to the International Forum on MDG 6, convened in October 2011 under the leadership of the government of Russia. The forum brought together governments, civil society and UN bodies to effectively respond to the growing HIV epidemic.

The number of people living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia almost tripled between 2000 and 2009 and there has been a four-fold increase in the number of AIDS-related deaths in the region. In 2010 there were an estimated 1.5 million people living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The epidemic has hit some countries in the region more than others: the Russian Federation and Ukraine together account for nearly 90% of the regional epidemic, but other countries also face an increase in their HIV incidence rates.