Russia Said To Be On Edge Of AIDS Crisis
Vitality is the face of Russia's AIDS epidemic, epitomizing many of its most troubling characteristics.

Critics say neglect of AIDS victims by authorities and callous treatment by regular Russians are part of a culture of denial that has helped place Russia on the verge of a public health crisis, as AIDS and HIV infections spread.

Russia has 334,000 officially registered HIV-or AIDS-infected people. The UNAIDS agency puts the figure at nearly 900,000 and many others say the real number is likely well over a million, around 1 percent of the country's population.

The critics also believe the epidemic will deepen amid Russia's decrepit health care system, plummeting health standards, a rising tide of illegal drugs and ubiquitous discrimination.

With hundreds gathering Monday for a major AIDS conference in Moscow, international health experts continue to warn that Russian officials have been too slow to react to a problem quickly moving beyond the traditional core of at-risk people-drug users, gay men, and prostitutes—in the wider population.

Without dramatic policy decisions, experts warn, Russia will be over-whelmed.

Russia's AIDS/HIV prevalence rate was about 1.1 percent of the population in 2003, according to the United Nations' AIDS program.

By comparison, the United States recorded a 0.6 percent rate and France 0.4 percent. The rate for the African country of Botswana was 37.3 percent.

Last month, President Vladimir Putin pledged a twenty-fold increase in deferral funding to fight the disease and the issue tops the agenda for the Group of Eight major industrialized nations summit in St. Petersburg in July. In his annual state-of-the-nation address this month, however, Putin made no mention of the disease, instead focus in on Russia's sharp decline in population.

Russia's top AIDS official Vadim Pokrovsky says 1 percent of Russia's 18- to 24-year olds are infected and at least 100 Russians become HIV infected every day.

Associated Press 5/15/06