From Russia with Unsafe Love

Russia: HIV and AIDS work blighted by lack of awareness and government action

29-10-2007

Richard Holbrooke, President of the Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and former US ambassador to the United Nations said that government inaction and a lack of public awareness about HIV and AIDS is preventing the country from adequately addressing the issue.

Up to 1.3 million people are living with HIV in Russia, and the number of cases continues to rise. Russia has recorded 402,000 HIV and AIDS cases, but more accurate estimates place the number between 1.2 million and 1.3 million.

About 40,000 new HIV cases were reported in 2006. The number of new cases reported in the first quarter of 2007 increased by 8 per cent to 10 per cent compared with the same period last year. He also said that between 100 and 110 new HIV cases are registered in Russia daily.

About 80 per cent of the country's HIV cases occur among people ages 15 to 30, and could undermine Russia’s economic development. About 90 per cent of people living with HIV in Russia and Ukraine do not know their status and will not know until they have progressed to AIDS, according to Holbrooke.

Russia is in "terrible, terrible danger," Holbrooke said, adding, "Over the next few years," HIV positive people who are unaware of their status "will be spreading it unintentionally."

Clyde Tuggle, Coca-Cola's president in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, said businesses are major stakeholders in preventing HIV and AIDS.

Coca-Cola had a "very selfish motivation" for joining GBC in Russia, Tuggle said, adding that the company is "dependent on one thing: the sustainability of this community, on a successful, healthy and prosperous Russia. Without that, I will have no business."

- TERUG -