Many of the Ukrainian refugees seeking sanctuary in the Republic of Moldova are from Odesa or the surrounding region, which is one of the regions of Ukraine most affected by HIV.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis with rapidly growing numbers of deaths and casualties, the destruction of entire cities and towns and unconscionable attacks on health facilities and other civilian targets. This is putting Ukrainians living with HIV in grave danger.
Anastasiia Yeva Domani is the Director of Cohort, an expert on the Working Group of Trans People on HIV and Health in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and a representative of the transgender community on the Ukrainian National Council on HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. UNAIDS spoke to her to see how she and the wider transgender community are coping after the Russian attack on
At the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the government of the neighbouring Republic of Moldova estimated that there might be around 300 000 people fleeing to the country from Ukraine. That estimate has now increased to 1 million refugees a huge amount for a country that has a population of only 2.6 million and is one of the poorest countries in Europe.
Yana Panfilova is Ukrainian and was born with HIV. When she was 16 years old, she created Teenergizer, a civil society organization to support adolescents and young people living with HIV in Ukraine. Since 2016, Teenergizer has been working internationally, promoting the rights of teenagers and young people in Ukraine and in seven cities in five countries across eastern Europe