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

Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
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.
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.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
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.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

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