Inadequate Fight Against Drugs Hampers Russia's Ability to Curb HIV

Maxim, a graying 33-year-old Russian heroin addict with telltale scarred arms, circles a Moscow pharmacy known to sell prescription drugs illicitly. Another man with quarter-sized holes gouged into his body from injection-related infections declined to give his name, fearing arrest if he sought treatment for his addiction.

These men personify a Russian HIV epidemic that has raged since the Soviet collapse 20 years ago. According to UNAIDS, Russia reported 60,000 new cases of HIV in 2009, an 8 percent increase from 2008. More than 60 percent of those infections are attributed to drug injection, while many others are related to sex with intravenous drug users (IDUs).

Officials estimate that more than 1 million people in Russia are IDUs, often sharing tainted needles and infecting one another. In 2011, the government plans to double spending on HIV drugs to $600 million and expand prevention programs focusing on youths, said Galina G. Chistyakova, a Health Ministry official who helps oversee the country's HIV/AIDS policies.

Although the government has increased efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, sex education and preventive programs such as needle exchange and drug substitution therapy have been denounced by top medical and political officials, as well as by the Russian Orthodox Church. According to the Federal Drug Control Service, 90 percent of Russian addicts use Afghan heroin, which officials blame on a US inability to eradicate production of heroin in Afghanistan.

Lev Zohrabyan, Europe and Central Asia adviser for UNAIDS, identified IDUs and sex workers as groups to focus funds on to effect change but noted that Russia's budget for the next two years makes no provisions for prevention work among them.

"I've been researching the problem of HIV infection for 25 years," said Dr. Vadim V. Pokrovsky, head of Russia's Federal AIDS Center, "and I must say the situation has become significantly worse."

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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