Today Ukraine Will Pray for Victims of AIDS

Today, on December 1, the world community remembers the victims of AIDS. Ukraine has one of the highest growth rates of HIV/AIDS in Europe. From the time of registration of the first AIDS case in 1987 to 2007, over 122 thousand cases among the Ukrainian citizens were registered in Ukraine, including nearly 22.5 thousand AIDS cases and 12.5 thousand cases of death of diseases caused by AIDS. According to UNAIDS, over 370 thousand people live in Ukraine today with AIDS, which constitutes 1.46% of the adult population. The scale of AIDS infection in Ukraine is on the increase.  

According to Orthodoxy.org.ua, with the blessing of the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Volodymyr, the UOC prays today for the health of the Ukrainians suffering from AIDS and will honor the memory of those whose lives were taken by the 'plague of the 21st century.'”

“Talking about AIDS we do not mean an illness of a specific social group. The epidemic has long since become a problem of the society, which can be overcome only with joint efforts,” said the head of the Synodal Department Mission of the Church and Medicine, Protopriest Hennadii Batenko.   

According to him, the problem of AIDS is a multicomponent structure based on economic, social, and personal factors.

Today, the churches of Ukraine will pray for the health of HIV-infected Ukrainians and the victims of the "plague of the 21st century.”