Over 3600 runners participated in this year’s Race for Life in Kyiv, thousands of people watching and cheering everyone up. Among the people who came on board were also the members of the Delegation of the European Commission in Ukraine including the Head of Delegation Mr. Norbert Jousten.

The UN-supported event is designed to raise both awareness of HIV/AIDS and provide financial support for the continuing fight against the virus in Ukraine.

An estimated amount of HIV infected citizens of Ukraine in 1999 ranged between 200 – 240 thousand people, infection rates being the highest in Europe and continue to rise.

A EU-US Prevention and Awareness Programme was launched on 1 December 2000. This three-year programme is financed through a EU grant of Euro 1.8 million and a U.S. grant of $ 2 million.

The EU funded part focuses mainly on comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention among youth in the oblasts of Lviv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Crimea and Sevastopol.

Major achievements have been the development and introduction of oblast-wide sex and drug education programmes in schools and the successful completion of a major media campaign on condom normalisation.