Headline August 10, 2017/ ''' UKRAINE -STUDENTS- UMBRAGE '''

''' UKRAINE -STUDENTS- UMBRAGE '''

ON SAM DAILY TIMES  :  *THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS*  -the master global publication of   *The World Students Society*     -where cheap seats are the best seats-     

In ones  mighty gallop of statistical review,   from left to right..........*Beautiful Ukraine*    is right there in the third row, just below China. 

For many obvious reasons, the readership and viewership is low, rather very low, indeed.   What exactly is the ground reality? Founders : Haleema? Saima? Sarah Khan/Kings College? Jordan?  Bilal?  Salar?

Student and Engineer and Founder Saima must sit up and intervene, and make sure that    Ukraine Students are inspired  to get working on  the complete knowledge  of the  *Global Elections on !WOW!*  -next year.

AS CLASHES DRAG ON in east Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed rebels , health activist Natalia Gurova is fighting another battle of her own.

Gurova manages a project in her  insurgent-controlled home city of Lugansk handling out clean syringes and condoms to drug users and sex workers who are most at risk from  HIV and  HEPATITIS.

That puts her at the forefront of the  perilous struggle against the spread of infections  as more than three years of conflict   and rebel rule have hit vital treatment programmes.

''EVERYTHING HAS WORSENED.''  Gurova, from the  All-Ukrainian Public Health Association, a charitable organization, told AFP.

Getting supplies such as  condoms, lubricants and hygienic wipes into rebels-held territory remains a constant challenge as they run the gauntlet of  checkpoints  to cross the tightly guarded frontline. 

While Gurova still manages to keep these programmes going, substitute treatments for drug addicts including methadone have stopped entirely.

This has seen users who were being weaned away from injecting themselves turn to dangerous local alternatives    -and bolstered the threat of the spread of diseases.

''There are more cases of  HIV infections among users and it is very difficult to make contact with them,'' Gurova said.

Alongside this problem, activists  say there has been a rise in the number of of   sex workers in the grey zone along the frontline. 

Prior to the start of the conflict in April, 2014,  ex-Soviet Ukraine  -especially in its eastern  regions of  Donetsk and Lugansk  -was already battling one of the most severe  HIV epidemics in Eastern Europe.

But thanks to the progressive policies the country was making progress and had managed to    reduce the rate of HIV infections, most dramatically among young/students drug users. 

After the war flared up in 2014, experts soon warned that the conflict risked jeopardising any gains that had been made.

As  Kiev lost control over Donetsk  and Lugainsk, health services and and key treatments for infections were hit,

In 2015,  international actors managed to to stave off an imminent  crisis by negotiating with Kiev and the rebels to keep supplying antiretroviral drugs to thousands of  HIV positive people in the separatist territories.

Emergency funds were provided and the  United Nations now estimates that about  10,000  adults and children/students with  HIV  in rebel-held areas are receiving the drugs.

But while negotiations have been successful in getting the most urgent attention and treatments through for now, in terms of prevention the situation looks dire.

Doctor Igor Pirogov, who works at a hospital treating drug users in rebel capital Donetsk, said the war has seriously disrupted attempts to curb addiction. ''Most of our patients put on uniform, got a weapon and went off to fight''  for the insurgents, Pirogov said.

''Many even said that they were using more drugs during the war than when it was peaceful.''     The internationally approved opioid replacement treatments that had become the norm in Ukraine have ended.

Due to recent restrictions the Ukrainian authorities say they are unable to deliver substitute drugs across the frontline.

For their part the rebels seem to have followed in the footsteps of their backers in Russia   -where methadone is banned   -and turned the clock back on progressive treatments.

Activisit Gurova said that about  900  patients had lost access to the methadone programme, leading many to turn instead to dangerous local alternatives.  At the same time she said more women around the conflict zone have turned to *prostitution* - also putting them at greater risk.

''There are no jobs, no work, no earnings  -this is the only option for them -so it all leads to an increase in the number of sex workers,'' she explained.

As it has    waged war against the insurgents on the battlefield,   the government in Kiev has shown a tendency to disown the health crisis in rebel regions.

While the situation in area under the insurgent control has deteriorated, the rest of the country has continued to make headway tackling HIV as authorities have pushed on with the policies that were yielding results.

''The decline in the rates of  HIV epidemic growth, is encouraging,'' Pavio Skala from the Alliance for Public Health told AFP.

But experts warn that any improvements being made risk being undermined by a uptick of infections in Ukraine rebel held regions and that Kiev cannot turn a blind eye to the problems happening across the frontline.

''Soldiers stand on the demarcation line between the two territories and they can control the border,'' Skala said.

''But they cannot control the spread of epidemics''.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Ukraine and then the World. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW!   -the Ecosystem 2011:

'' Struggles & Students '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless