The World Bank should revise its assessment of Ukraine as a middle-income country. This would help international donors – charitable funds and organizations – and global pharmaceutical companies to cut the price of medicines they supply to treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and other social hazardous diseases.

Representatives AIDS Healthcare Foundation office in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Center for Social Disease Control of Ukraine's Health Ministry and the All-Ukrainian Network PLWH presented their ideas at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on April 1.

Head of AIDS Healthcare Foundation office in Ukraine Serhiy Fiodorov said that AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in August 2015 created Raise the MIC campaign with 530 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from 45 countries participating in. The campaign calls on the World Bank to change how it classifies Middle Income Countries. This makes pharmaceutical companies to set certain prices for countries of various groups in the World Bank's classification.

"Middle Income Countries are countries with daily average income of the public varying from $2.86 to $34.89. The campaign is calling to raise the bottom level for including the countries to Middle Income Countries group to 10$ a day to be realistic in assessing the situation public income in Ukraine and other countries. We understand that real population income does not equal the official gross national income (GNI). We demand that the World Bank revises the old classification," Fiodorov said.

He said that global pharmaceutical companies form the price policy, taking into account the World Bank classification. They sell HIV/AIDS and TB drugs at the prices set in developed countries.

"The World Bank indicates the rules for forming prices on the global market. The World Bank classification is a ruler used by everyone in their calculations," he said commenting on the possibility of agreeing the prices of drugs directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers.

He also said that Middle Income Countries do not have a chance of avoiding patent protection of pharmaceutical medications or enter the so-called 'patent pool' which would help to use cheaper generics to treat HIV/AIDS in Ukraine.

"It is very important for all of us, especially for patients with HIV/AIDS and TV, to achieve the revision of the classification," Chairman of the Coordination Council of the All-Ukrainian Network PLWH Dmytro Sherembei said.

Director of the Ukrainian Center for Social Disease Control of Ukraine's Health Ministry Natalia Nizova said that Ukraine is emblematic of the spread HIV/AIDS.

According to the center, Ukraine as of early 2015 had over 223,000 people with HIV. Each second person with HIV does not know about it and remains beyond medical care. Some 61,254 Ukrainian citizens with HIV got treatment in 2015, including 18,486 thanks to the UN Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Ukraine in 2016 will be able to finance HIV/AIDS and TB treatment only by 50%. The UN Global Fund would provide the rest of the funds.