Eurasia - Regional Overview
The Eurasian region, comprising Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Central Asia, is home to over 3.7 million people who inject drugs, representing almost one-quarter of people who inject drugs worldwide. Injecting drug use is driving HIV epidemics in many countries in the region, where an estimated one million people who inject drugs are living with HIV.
While harm reduction service provision has increased in recent years, coverage remains limited. Needle and syringe exchange (NSP) is now provided in all countries and territories of the region. The vast majority also provide opioid substitution therapy (OST), but most of the programmes are pilots and have not been systematically scaled up. In many countries, there remains an emphasis on drug law enforcement over drug treatment and harm reduction. Rapid increases in HIV prevalence within prison populations have led a number of countries to begin prescribing opioid substitution therapy to prisoners, but access to sterile injecting equipment among prison populations remains a rarity.
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| Country/territory with reported injecting drug use | People who inject drugs | Adult HIV prevalence amongst people who inject drugs | Harm Reduction response | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSP | OST | |||
| Albania | nk | nk | Y (3) | Y (1) (M) |
| Armenia | 2,000 | 13.40% | Y (7) | Y (1) (M) |
| Azerbaijan | 300,000 | 13% | Y (12-14) | Y (2) (M) |
| Belarus | 76,500 | 1.50% | Y (52-64) | Y (1) (M) |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | nk | nk | Y (6) | Y (6-8) (M) |
| Bulgaria | 20,250 | 0.40% | Y (100) | Y (17) (M,O) |
| Croatia | 15,000 | 0.60% | Y (42) | Y (B,M) |
| Czech Republic | 30,000 | 0.05% | Y (109) (P) | Y (47) (B,M) |
| Estonia | 13,801 | 72.10% | Y (36) | Y (8) (B,M) |
| Georgia | 127,833 | 1.63% | Y (2-9) | Y (6-12) (M) |
| Hungary | 3,941 | 0% | Y (25) | Y (13) (B,M) |
| Kazakhstan | 100,000 | 9.20% | Y(159) | Y (2) (M) |
| Kosovo | nk | 0% | Y | N |
| Kyrgyzstan | 25,000 | 8% | Y (40) (P) | Y (14-18) (M) |
| Latvia | nk | 8.15% | Y (13-22) | Y (1-9) (B,M) |
| Lithuania | 5,123 | 2.40% | Y (10-19) | Y (14-18) (B,M) |
| Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia | nk | nk | Y (15) | Y (9) (M) |
| Moldova | 3,500 | 21% | Y (31) | Y (4-5) (M) |
| Montenegro | nk | nk | Y (18) | Y (M) |
| Poland | nk | 8.90% | Y (27) | Y (22) (B,M) |
| Romania | nk | 1.44% | Y (49) | Y (6-8) (B,M) |
| Russia | 1,815,500 | 37.15% | Y (70) | N |
| Serbia | nk | nk | Y (13) | Y (14) (M) |
| Slovakia | 18,841 | 0% | Y (20) | Y (12) (B,M,O) |
| Slovenia | 7,310 | 0.40% | Y (17) (P) | Y (20) (B,M,O) |
| Tajikistan | 17,000 | 14.70% | Y (35-40) | N |
| Turkmenistan | nk | nk | Y (2) | N |
| Ukraine | 291,000 | 32.40% | Y (985-1,323) (P) | Y (B,M) |
| Uzbekistan | 80,000 | 15.60% | Y (235) | N |
