HIV/AIDS kills 413 people in Armenia within 16 years

 Since 1998 up to 1 December 2014, 1924 HIV cases were registered in Armenia, including 305 cases within 11 months of 2014, which is a record-breaking indicator for Armenia, Samvel Grigoryan, Head of the Republican AIDS Prevention Center, told reporters, on 1 December.

HIV among men accounts 69% of total, among women and children - 2% and 38 cases, respectively. 53% of the total HIV-infected belong to the age group of 25-39. Most of HIV infections are from heterosexual contact (63%). Injection drug users (IDUs) represent 28% of total HIV-infections. 

AIDS was diagnosed among 983 HIV-infected people, including 21 children and 255 women. Since 1988, HIV/AIDS have killed 413 people, including 70 women and 7 children.
Nearly all the infected IDUs are males, while 97% of females were infected through sexual contacts. 

Yerevan accounts for 34.3% or 659 of total HIV infections. Then goes Shirak region with 11.3%.  Grigoryan alarms that most of the HIV-infected are labor migrants. 
Late diagnosis of HIV remains a serious problem in the country, he said, where only 39% of the HIV-infected know their HIV-status.  Although HIV/AIDS treatment is free of charge in the country, deaths from HIV are mainly due to late diagnosis and, consequently, late treatment.  French Ambassador to Armenia Jean-Francois Charpentier, in turn, said France has been the second largest contributor to the Global Fund to Combat AIDS, TB and Malaria since its inception in 2002.  In 2006-2012, France contributed $1.2 billion to the Fund. In addition, France provided $6 million to Armenia for implementation of relevant projects.

Ambassador Charpentier highly appreciated the Armenian-French cooperation in the field of health, through training of specialists and interaction of the two countries' medical establishments.  
According to the WHO, HIV/AIDS remains one of the world's most significant public health challenges, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. HIV/AIDS killed over 36 million people over the last 30 years. In 2012 there were 35.3 [32.4-38.8] million HIV-infected people in the world. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most heavily affected area, where nearly every 20th adult is HIV- infected.  This region accounts for 69% of total HIV-infections in the world.  

Professor Dominique Peyramond, head of the Infectious Disease Department at the Croix-Rousse Hospital (Lyon, France), in turn, underscored France's contribution to combating HIV/AIDS. In 2008, Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier  for their discovery of HIV.  Peyramond said that all the necessary services for HIV/AIDS treatment are provided free of charge in France.