BELATED official recognition of "anti-social" practices such as prostitution. homesexuality and drug abuse in East Europe has brought about new approaches to AIDS previously viewed as a "capitalist" disease.

Before the political changes which swept the region in. 1989. governments there tried to restrict the entry and spread of AIDS by compulsory HIV— antibody testing of all foreigners -and nationals returning from the West. HIV-positive nationals were readmitted but strictly monitored by the state.

The more open political climate has led to an easing of travel restrictions and a relaxation of controls on sexual behaviour. The changes carry both opportunities and dangers for AIDS prevention ef-

Health educators have been able to learn from the successes and failures of AIDS campaigns in western Europe because HIV arrived later In Central and Eastern Europe than in the rest of the continent. Hungary and Czechoslovakia reported the first cases of AIDS and HIV infection in the region in the mid-1980s. Although only Albania still reports no cases of AIDS or HIV Infection, the region still reports less than 3% of total European AIDS cases.

Educators are also fortunate that AIDS awareness was established before political changes diverted public atten-

Uon from the epidemic.

Civil rights for people with HIV/AIDS which were denied in the past are now In place in most of the region. The principle of "informed consent" — being advised of the alms, risks and alternatives to any medical intervention — has been recognised.

Soviet law protects the rights of AIDS patients and people with HIV. It says that neople with HIV/AIDS will be provided with free medicines and transport to and from treatment centres.

For the first time. AIDS service organisations (ASOs) and the gay (homosexual) movement are at the forefront ^f AIDS campaigns in the re-gfon.

Hungary's gay organisation. Homeros Lambda, for example, has been recognised and supported for its pioneering work on AIDS. In addition. Pluss, a self-help federation has been set up by people with HIV and AIDS to overcome social isolation. It received so much press coverage that its slogan. "Give Ufe a Chance," has become a national catchprase.

In Yugoslavia drug users are now targeted in national .AIDS prevention ' campaigns. Methadone (heroin substitution) therapy is used at treat-.i.ent centres, single-use needles are available at chemists, and condoms are sold in Belgrade newstands and supermarkets.

But discrimination and intolerance of people with

HIV/AIDS still exist. Earlier this year, a married couple in Riga in the Soviet Union committed suicide after being informed they were both HIV-posltive. Friends and neighbours were quoted as saying that the couple would not have had much of a life, since peo-. pie would have treated them like lepers.

Intolerance Is compounded by the rapid pace of change in the region, which poses particular challenges for AIDS prevention. High rates of unemployment and widespread poverty mean risky behaviour such as prostitution and injected drug use are far more prevalent.

There is no doubt, however, that facing up to the problems can bring results. In Yugoslavia, rates of HIV-infectlon have dramatically decreased, contrary to trends in western Europe. The number of reported new cases of HIV infection declined from, 529. when national figures were first collated in 1987. to Just 150 last year.

Primarius Branko Pocik. director of the Federal Institute for Public Health In Belgrade, believes that public education campaigns played a part in this surprising reversal:

"It could be that we actually managed to cover the high risk groups In the first few years of blood testing and identified the bulk of those Infected. Or it could be that our antl-AlDS campaign worked well and that new cases are not occurring."