Montenegro

Montenegro Fulfilled The Majority Of Obligations Taken To Prevent Aids But The Vulnerable Groups Remain Still In The Dark

“Accountability” is this year’s main message on World AIDS Day. The scourge of the modern age, which killed 25 million people in the world and 25 people in Montenegro. Montenegro accomplished the majority of its obligations, but not all, was said yesterday at the press conference organized on the occasion of the World AIDS Day, led by the Montenegrin Ministry of Health, the Republic AIDS Commission and the UNDP Office Montenegro. Boban Mugoša, President of the Republic AIDS Commission, said that this primarily refers to the prevention within high-risk, marginalized groups (commercial sex workers and men having sex with men). He explained that this happens because members of these groups are difficult to identify, and even more difficult to reach in order to be helped in getting out of the darkness and start living a life worthy of human dignity.

“We don’t know much about the behavior of vulnerable groups, but we know that there is AIDS transmission among them”, Mr. Mugoša emphasized, saying that they already undertook measures in that direction. They already collected certain data regarding this population, and their goal is to include those groups into preventive-educative campaign, as soon as possible, helping them in this way to deal with the greatest problem – the omnipresent stigma and discrimination.

It was said that the prevention campaign is already giving results among other vulnerable groups, wherein there is a high risk of AIDS infection (prisoners, intravenous drug users, Roma and youth). Mr. Mugoša said that a lot was done on the reduction of damage with drug addicts (methadone therapy and needle exchange).

What is optimistic regarding this disease is that total diagnostics would be completed in Montenegro by the beginning of next year. Mr. Mugoša emphasized that the problem is still the hospital treatment of these patients, which is not as they wanted and which needs improvement.

The Ministry of Health and all the relevant health institutions, tried in the past period to contribute, with their activities, to the raising of HIV/AIDS prevention on a higher level. “For that purpose we worked intensively with the population particularly sensitive to this infection”, said Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Welfare Ms. Smiljka Kotlica. “Aware of the fact that HIV positive mothers should be enabled with the high quality reproductive protection, and with the aim of avoiding transmission, we created a guide book and protocol, and in cooperation with NGO sector we intensified media campaign so that the youth could get necessary information regarding this virus”, Ms. Kotlica stated. She reminded that Safe Blood Strategy was adopted, as a good basis for future law, which is an important part in fighting against AIDS, because HIV is often transmitted in this way. Ms. Kotlica emphasized that future programs for fighting against AIDS are in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals and global development trends of European health care.

Head of UNDP Office in Podgorica, Mr. Garret Tankosic – Kelly said that general HIV prevalence in Montenegro is, according to available statistical data, less than 0.01%. “Our goal is to keep it below 1%, with an appropriate program to provide care and support for those already affected by HIV/AIDS and to expand the prevention efforts in all identified vulnerable groups”. He emphasized that the major challenge in fighting against this disease is the stigma and discrimination, as well as the fact that it is very difficult to identify high-risk groups due to the mentality and awareness problems in Montenegrin society.

An important segment in HIV/AIDS prevention, amongst other things, is the safe and secure blood. Ms. Gordana Rašović, Transfusion Doctor, said that Montenegro adopted a strategy, and a law in this domain is to follow. “In Montenegro so far, luckily, there has been no diseases transmitted through infected blood, and I hope it will remain that way”, she added.

Within the Republic AIDS Strategy developed by the Montenegrin Republic AIDS Commission, a four year Program of Support to Montenegrin HIV/AIDS Strategy Implementation will be financed with 3 million dollars by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM). The GFATM has entered a partnership agreement with the UNDP as the Principal Recipient of the funds for the Republic of Montenegro.

UNDP as the Principal Recipient of the funds will be in charge of close contacts with the Country Coordinating Mechanism in order to provide them with detailed information on all the stages of project implementation. One of the main aims of the GFATM project is to build capacities of national institutions to adequately respond to HIV/AIDS epiemic. UNDP’s role as principal recipient in the project is not the decision making one, but to act as facilitator through the process of implementation and ultimately to enable local actors to effectively respond to the needs of those affected or at risk. In this light, one of the main aims of the Program is to provide capacity building for the national institutions and in the course of time the responsibilities within the Program will be gradually transferred to national institutions.

Four new cases this year

3 new HIV cases were recorded in Montenegro this year (total population cca 700.000 inhabitants) and one AIDS case, which makes a total of  43 (31 infected and 12 with diagnosed AIDS). AIDS is transmitted most frequently through sexual intercourse (75%), and the most affected groups (22%) are MSM (men having sex with men), sailors (15%) and tourist-hotelier workers (14%).

The man-women ratio is 3 to 1.

Currently,  the Montenegrin Clinic for Infectious Diseases monitors 28 HIV/AIDS infected people.