IssueThe HIV epidemic in Europe and Central Asia continued to expand across the region, and there are an estimated 1.6 million people living with HIV (PLHIV). This figure has increased by 33% since 2003 and nearly twenty-fold in less than ten years. A particular feature of the HIV epidemic in Romania is the large number (estimated at 10,000) children infected with HIV through unscreened blood, blood products and unsterile needles in the late 1980s. Current data shows there has been a steady increase in HIV incidence among young adults (aged 15-29), which seems to be mainly Young people are bearing the brunt of new HIV infections: the overwhelming majority of PLHIV are young, and 75% of reported infections between 2000 and 2004 were among males and females under the age of 30.related to sexual (mainly heterosexual) transmission. The 2005 Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices (KABP) study shows that sex work is flourishing, dominated by unsafe practices and closely associated with injecting drug use. In this context, effective and efficient national and regional responses are required in order to prevent and minimise the risk of HIV infection among adolescents engaged in risky behaviour.
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