VZCZCXRO3506
RR RUEHKW
DE RUEHWR #2379 3511302
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171302Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5645
INFO RUEHKW/AMCONSUL KRAKOW 1935
RUEAUSA/HHS WASHDC

UNCLAS WARSAW 002379 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI TBIO PL
SUBJECT: HIV-AIDS PATIENTS IN POLAND 
 
 
¶1.  According to a panel of experts who met in Warsaw 
November 29, 22 years after the first HIV cases were noted in 
Poland, Poles continue to stigmatize and discriminate against 
HIV positive persons.  The panel, made up of Polish doctors, 
nurses, and social workers from NGO's, met to mark World AIDS 
Day on December 1. 
 
¶2.  The incident of HIV/AIDS in Poland has been stable over 
the past decade.  Official statistics show 550-650 cases of 
HIV and 120-175 cases of AIDS diagnosed each year from 1995 
to 2005, the last year for which government figures are 
available.  Since 1985, when the first cases of HIV were 
detected in Poland, a total of 11,225 persons have tested HIV 
positive, 2,013 have developed AIDS, and 900 have died. 
 
¶3.  While Poland has stabilized its incidence of HIV/AIDS, 
the panelists were generally critical of Poles' attitudes 
towards persons living with the disease.  One speaker, a 
well-know television journalist who had worked as a 
correspondent in the U.S., contrasted the tolerant attitudes 
towards AIDS Day assemblies he had observed in New York with 
the hostility he believed such gatherings would attract in 
Poland.  Another panelist, an academic and sociologist who 
works with HIV/AIDS patients, spoke of the level of 
discrimination the patients faced in Poland.  She claimed 
that one third of the HIV/AIDS patients had experienced 
discrimination from medical professionals, including being 
refused dental treatment and hip surgery, solely because of 
the fear of HIV infection.  She also reported on several 
cases of healthy children being refused entry to schools 
because it was known that their mothers were HIV positive. 
 
¶4.  There was a consensus among the panelists, as one speaker 
put it, "education, education, and more education" was the 
tool to combat discrimination.  One panelist, a physician 
from the National AIDS Center, presented survey results 
showing that most Polish school children do not receive 
adequate education on the causes and risk factors of 
HIV/AIDS.  Several panelists suggested that the students' 
inadequate training stemmed from the educational policies of 
the recently-defeated administration of prime minister 
Jaroslaw Kaczynski. 
HILLAS