Confidential diagnosis and palliative treatment extend to people with permanent residence who are registered as stateless persons. In its National Programme for 2001-2005 Kazakhstan aims to ensure that at least 80% of people with HIV/AIDS infection are covered by medical and social programmes. Its inventory of illnesses to be treated free of charge includes “life-threatening conditions, among them ones that are hazardous to society”.381 Although not explicitly stated, this might include treatment for HIV/AIDS infection. As in the three other States, in Kazakhstan these provisions do not extend to undocumented stateless persons. The World Bank382 described Kyrgyzstan’s early response to the HIV/AIDS phenomenon as “international best practice” despite its shortage of resources. Kyrgyzstan’s National Strategy for Reproductive Health till 2015383 identifies factors that have led to a recorded increase in HIV/AIDS infection in the country, particularly among women. These mostly relate to poverty. Like the other three Central Asian States, Kyrgyzstan has made no study of HIV/AIDS infection rates among stateless people. Its findings on poverty and migration, however, suggest that stateless persons throughout the region may be a group at risk of infection. Kazakhstan has identified more cases of HIV/AIDS infection than its neighbours and registered double the number each year since 2000, now in each region of the country. Government studies have found that 75% of people were unemployed when they were infected and most are men of 20-29 years.384 Epidemiological studies have shown up numerous infection hot spots in the country. In the south these include the trading city of Shymkent, where a large population of stateless persons is known to live.385 Equivalent data is not available from Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.386 One quarter of the Tajik population is said to be migrants. Public attitudes towards HIV/AIDS infection are said to be harsh. In Kazakhstan,387 for instance, 82.7% of people surveyed said they would not buy foodstuffs from an HIV-positive vendor and 9.4% said they would not care for a family member with HIV/AIDS. Some 65.9% of respondents said they would keep it secret if they were infected. HIV/AIDS infection may thwart the efforts of some stateless persons in the region to naturalize. Among 14 documents required of stateless persons applying for permanent residence in Tajikistan, for instance, is one certifying they do not have an “illness that might become an epidemic on Tajik territory”.388 Kazakh residency regulations contain a similar provision.389 381 2008-2009 Inventory of Illnesses Treated from State-Funds [Perechen’ GOBMR 2008-2009]. Central Asia AIDS Control Project, World Bank. 383 Kyrgyz Republic: Information on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the Preparation of a Regional Survey, available at http://www.unescap.org/ESID/GAD/Issues/Beijing+15/Responds_to_Questionnaire/Kyrgyz_unofficial_eng.pdf (accessed on 10 March 2011). 384 World Bank, HIV/AIDS in Central Asia, 2002. 385 According to the 2008 UNAIDS, WHO, FAO Epidemiological Country Surveys Profile. Appendices to WHO reports, available at www.apps.who.int. 386 World Bank, HIV/AIDS in Central Asia, 2002. The economic effects of transition have affected each State differently. An IOM Report notes that the average wage in Tajikistan is now less that 20% of its level in 1989. Some 80% of the population are said to live in poverty, according to its 2005 publication, Fertile Fields: Trafficking in Persons in Central Asia. 387 In a 2006 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey on Kazakhstan supported by UNICEF, UNFPA, ILO, USAID. Urban respondents were 10% more concerned to keep the infection secret. 388 Article 27, 1999 Law No 218 ‘On the Rules of Stay for Foreigners and Stateless Persons’ in Tajikistan, as amended in 2008. 389 Articles 62 and 70(d), 2003 Regulation No 1185 ‘On Approval of the Rules for Confirming Financial Solvency during a Period of Residence in the Republic of Kazakhstan of Foreigners and Stateless Persons who are Applying for Permanent Residence in the Republic of Kazakhstan’. Infection can also be grounds for deportation (ibid, Article 84). 382 ~ 59 ~