Last year, 267 new cases of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) were registered in Lithuania. This is significantly more than in 2021 when 121 cases were diagnosed. Specialists attribute the rapid growth of the disease to immigration. The data from the National Public Health Centre (NVSC) shows that almost half of the new HIV cases in both 2022 and last year were diagnosed to people who were recent arrivals to the country. “Specifically, war refugees from Ukraine. Most of the people infected with HIV are Ukrainian women. They make up the vast majority of those infected among foreign nationals,” noted Raimonda Matulionytė, Infectious Diseases Physician at Santaros Clinics.