Russia and the ex-Soviet bloc need to step up their HIV prevention programmes to stop its rapid spread, but stigma and domestic drug policies are hindering progress, UN representatives said yesterday.

As the world prepares to mark the 30-year anniversary tomorrow of the first recorded case of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, effective prevention is “to a large extent missing in the region”, UNAIDS regional director Denis Broun told reporters.

Ninety per cent of new infections in the region occur in Russia and Ukraine, with a growing share of women infected by sex partners who have contracted the disease through drug injection, according to the United Nations.

Data also show the epidemic spreading through Eastern Europe and Central Asia nearly five times faster than the global average, growing to 1.4 million people in 2010.

But Mr Broun said the disease remains poorly understood among the former Soviet republics.

“When we are talking about prevention among drug users or men who have sex with men, we are talking about people who are not easy to reach ... who are often stigmatised,” Mr Broun said.

“To reach them with effective prevention there is a need to work with them ... so their behaviours are better understood. This is what, to a large extent, is missing in the region.”

Only 20 per cent of those who need AIDS treatment in the region receive it, making the rest a greater risk and shortening their life expectancy, Mr Broun said.