Changes in spread of HIV in Russia
| Why HIV is affecting older people and how risk groups have changed: epidemiological data from Rospotrebnadzor 03/07/2019 In 2018, 70% of people newly infected with HIV in Russia were economically active and aged between 30 and 50. A report entitled ‘On HIV in Russia and its prevention in the workplace’, drawn up by the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Rospotrebnadzor, indicates that the number of regions with rampant HIV has increased by more than 40% over the past three years. Rospotrebnadzor has passed the report to the commission for the regulation of social and labour relations, RBC reports. Highly affected regions In small towns such as Tolyatti, Severouralsk, Orsk or Berezniki, the number of people with HIV has grown, with figures at 2-4 times the Russian average. In 2018, 87,700 people contracted HIV in the Russian Federation and the number of those living with the infection exceeded a million. Last year, the regions with the highest prevalence of HIV were Irkutsk (where 1.8% of the population is infected), Sverdlovsk and Kemerovo. In 2015, Irkutsk and Samara showed the highest figures. Shifting risk groups Rospotrebnadzor also notes that infection among people who do not belong to ‘high risk’ groups (which include gays, drug users and sex workers) is now more common. In 2018, 54.8% contracted the disease through heterosexual contact – an increase on 53.5% in 2017, and 48.7% in 2016. ‘Infection is occurring mainly among heterosexuals,’ Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the Department for AIDS Prevention and Control at the Rospotrebnadzor Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, has been quoted as saying. ‘People are not using condoms – their sales are falling. As I see it, this is because their cost is high, and consumer purchasing power is falling. Equally, people do not understand that they can be directly affected. What’s more, the authorities are reporting that, in Russia, HIV has been brought under control.’ HIV and older age-groups |
