As part of its ongoing series, titled “The State of AIDS,” GlobalPost published two articles examining the epidemic in different regions. In Eastern Europe, rates of HIV/AIDS diagnoses have risen in several countries, including Ukraine and Russia, according to the first article, which discusses some of the potential reasons for the increases. Also, “with the economic crisis affecting much of Western Europe, there is concern that declining health spending and cuts to research budgets could hurt AIDS treatment across the continent, even in nations that are leading the way in HIV/AIDS prevention and care like the United Kingdom,” the news service writes (Ames, 12/7).

A second article examines HIV prevalence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), “one of just two areas where HIV infection rates continue to grow — and where antiretroviral treatment is the least accessible due to traditional societal stigma and intransigent authorities,” GlobalPost reports, adding, “The United Nations says the region is the only one that has yet to see a reduction in the number of children newly infected with HIV each year” (Cunningham/Habib, 12/9).