Participants of action ”Stop a counter”

Olympic gymnastics champion Lilia Podkopaeva, right, in the foreground, businessman, publisher of "Paparazzi" magazine Valid Arfush, in the center, in the background, his former civil wife, television anchorwoman Lidia Petrova (Sarahanda) in the center, and People's artist singer Ani Lorak, third to the left in the background, during “Stop a counter” action dedicated to Memory day of people, died of AIDS, in Kyiv, Sunday, May 17, 2009. The first counter in Europe, fixing a number of people, infected with HIV in Ukraine (according to data of action's organizers, as of today, there are 544505 thousand people), is placed in Kyiv. Memory Day of people who died of AIDS takes place annually on the third Sunday of May all over the world. According to Health Ministry , as of the end of 2008, 139660 HIV infected and 26351 people ill with AIDS are officially registered in Ukraine. Ukraine leads in the region of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia by the rate of development of the epidemic: a number of HIV infected has been increasing more than twice from 2001. Photo by Andrey Skakodub/UNIAN