Nipping It in the Bud
As of now, HIV/AIDS is virtually nonexistent in Tajikistan. The World Health Organization and UNAIDS reported under 400 cases at the end of 2003. However, given the amount of intravenous drug use in the region, the US State Department describes Tajikistan as “fertile ground” for an outbreak, and an increased number of cases are already being reported.
Tajikistan seems to be aware of the problem, and determined to stop the problem before it gets out of hand as it did in Africa. Last Wednesday President Rakhmonov requested $13 billion dollars to meet the Millennium Development Goals, one of which is to halt the spread of AIDS.
The Asian Development Bank is committing some money toward just this purpose. One of the primary disadvantages of the current regional road projects is that increased regional movement will also increase the spread of diseases and the likelihood of an AIDS outbreak. For this reason, the ADB will commit $500,000 to prevent the spread of AIDS in Tajikistan communities during and after the construction project.
Obviously this is nowhere near the requested amount, but it is a start, and a lot of that money would have gone toward the other MDGs anyway.
on November 22nd, 2005 at 6:36 pm
Fascinating post, but I’d like to add that roads don’t contribute to the AIDS epidemic just through broader regional movement - there is also a more localized increase in HIV-prevalence within communities along trucking routes, due to a demand-driven increase in prostitution. I would imagine that this would hold true in Tajikistan even though the local epidemic is driven more by intravenous drug users (like you stated); and even if it remains largely drug-driven, you would still expect to see more drug trafficking along major transportation routes.
on November 25th, 2005 at 5:15 am
Check out “this recent IRIN article”:http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50280.