I just read this alarming article on BBC News 24
The report, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, says 3m self-injecting drug users worldwide could now be HIV-positive.
In nine countries, more than 40% of drug users were infected.
Countries where over 40% of injecting drug users are thought to be HIV positive:
Estonia: 72.1%
Argentina: 49.7%
Brazil: 48.0%
Kenya: 42.9%
Burma: 42.6%
Indonesia: 42.5%
Thailand: 42.5%
Ukraine: 41.8%
Nepal: 41.4%
But some countries have maintained very low rates of infection, such as the UK – where the rate is 2.3% – New Zealand and Australia where only 1.5% of injecting drug users are HIV-positive.
Researchers say that this was due to the swift introduction of needle exchange programmes in the 1980s.