World AIDS Day – Civil activists point to “lack of prevention” in Hungary

Budapest, December 1 (MTI) – The HIV-AIDS situation in Hungary has been characterised by “negative tendencies” in the past 4-5 years, the head of the Civil AIDS Forum told a press conference on December 1, World AIDS Day.

Laszlo Mocsonaki insisted that “in fact there is no AIDS prevention” in the country. He pointed to official health figures and said that more people died in Hungary in the first half of the year than in the same period in 2013.

Though in December 2013 a National AIDS Taskforce was set up, “no substantive work has been done”, Mocsonaki said. He added that at the body’s first meeting a workplan was drafted, but the draft was not offered for broader consultations, nor has it been ever approved.

People in health care are not sufficiently knowledgeable about HIV-infection and it often happens that AIDS-patients turn up in hospitals in late stages of the full-blown disease, Mocsonaki insisted. He called for a comprehensive anti-HIV/AIDS strategy based on experts and civil activists.