December 10, 2023

Emerging HIV Epidemic?


Emerging HIV Epidemic?
Creative artwork featuring colorized 3D prints of HIV virus particles. NIAID, Flickr

In 2022, Russia identified 71,000 new HIV cases, bringing the total number of people with HIV in the country to almost 1.2 million. In at least 19 regions, the epidemic has extended beyond vulnerable groups, affecting the entire population, according to the Esli Byt Tochnym ("If One is Being Accurate") project.

Their research indicates that the most challenging situation with HIV infection exists in Siberian and Ural regions, including the Kemerovo, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, and Tomsk regions and Altai, Krasnoyarsk, and Perm territories. 

To halt the HIV epidemic, widespread access to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy is crucial. Continuous ARV therapy renders a person's viral load undetectable, preventing virus transmission. However, Russia is experiencing a shortage of ARV drugs.

Esli Byt Tochnym reported that, in 2022, the Ministry of Health spent a record R42 billion ($455 million) on medicine purchases, but a quarter of this amount was taken from the 2023 budget. Consequently, funds for HIV treatment were nearly depleted by May.

According to Esli Byt Tochnym data in 2022, residents of Moscow, Crimea, Leningrad region, and Chechnya received inadequate treatment, with less than 50 percent of people with HIV in these regions receiving care.

The situation is particularly dire in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Local activists report that therapy supplies from Ukraine ceased after the invasion, and purchases from Russia have not yet been established. Consequently, doctors are distributing expired pills from old stocks.

The interruptions in medicine supply in Russia may be attributed to the high costs of the Russian war in Ukraine and underestimated statistics maintained by Russian departments, according to the independent outlet DOXA. “A lot of money goes to military needs, but there are no fewer patients due to poor HIV prevention in Russia,” said  Maxim Malyshev, the social work coordinator at the Andrey Rylkov Foundation.

Previously, the UN disclosed that, at the end of 2021, Russia was one of five countries in the world with the highest rates of HIV spread.

You Might Also Like

$10,000 for a Fake Injury
  • December 05, 2023

$10,000 for a Fake Injury

Russian soldiers use bribes to buy vacations and the opportunity not to participate in assaults.
Of War and Yachts
  • August 29, 2023

Of War and Yachts

Despite Russia's War on Ukraine and ongoing sanctions, the Russian state spent $32 million on a yacht linked to Vladimir Putin.
A Shortage of Drugs
  • August 23, 2023

A Shortage of Drugs

Nearly 200 medications could vanish from the Russian market due to sanctions and isolation.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955