Text 7 Aids in Russia

The first official case of HIV in the USSR was recorded in the end of 1986, in a Russian who contracted the virus in Africa and then infected 15 Soviet soldiers with whom he had homosexual relations. This was immediately publicised in a mass media campaign which proclaimed that HIV/AIDS was a disease of a corrupt life style. The USSR was not ready socially, ideologically, or economically for a serious prevention campaign at that time - homosexuality was illegal, issues related to reproductive health were not considered appropriate themes for public discussion, and the country was reeling from the instability of perestroyka.

Between 1987 and 1989 a system of regional AIDS centres throughout the USSR was set up to carry out testing and limited prevention activities. Government policy emphasised using HIV antibody testing on a wide scale in an attempt to identify HIV-positive people.

Between the years of 1987 and 1991 over 142 million people were tested. Only 0,004% of these tests were done anonymously. The majority of these tests were conducted without the knowledge or consent of those being tested and no protocols involving pre or post counseling were instituted. Positive tests were often followed by aggressive contact tracing. The primary prevention campaign consisted of a discriminatory, fear-based mass-media campaign which often leads to heavy persecution of people with HIV/AIDS.

The political and economic instability of the late 1980s and early 1990s resulted in a general lack of attention to the issue of HIV/AIDS. In 1991, the Institute of Preventative Medicine stopped translating foreign literature about the issue. Information campaigns ceased to exist. The public gave little consideration to the threat of HIV during this period which is often associated with Russia's "sexual revolution", an increase in IV drug use, and a surge in prostitution. Today both the public's and the government's perception of the risk of HIV are very distorted.

In 1995, according to official governmental statistics, there were over 10 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) reported in Russia.

Although it can be assumed that the level of HIV infection has some correlation with STD prevalence, this is not readily apparent from a glance at the official statistics of HIV infection in Russia. As of May 1996, there were approximately 1150 cases of HIV-infection reported among Russian citizens. Many specialists estimate that the actual prevalence of HIV is closer to 10,000. These distorted statistics may be due in part to the fact that people who engage in high risk behaviours, unaware of their right to be tested anonymously, often avoid tasting for fear of persecution. Moreover, Russian medical specialists are given very little training in HIV diagnostics; therefore it is likely that many HIV-related complications and symptoms go unrecognised by gynecologists, oncologists, pulmonary specialists, dermatologists and other specialists. Artificially low HIV statistics cause HIV related issues to be given very low priority by the public or government.

Russia's official AIDS prevention centre has reported in July, 2, 1999 a twelve-fold increase in new HIV cases in Moscow and its surrounding suburbs over the first six months of 1999 compared with the same time period of 1998. The increased incidence of HIV in and around Moscow is considered epidemic level. Previously, Kaliningrad had the largest number of HIV cases in Russia.