The Itar-Tass News Agency is reporting that Russia now officially has the largest HIV / AIDS epidemic in Europe with almost a million infected Russians in 2005.
The main driving factor behind the staggering rate of infection is the use of intravenous drugs according to the report with almost 30% of St Petersburg addicts infected with HIV and alarming rates of sexual transmission.
Another alarming fact is the increased rate of infection among prisoners which is 30-120 times higher than amogst the general citizenry.
Moreover, almost none of the infected people are receiving the correct treatment with only 5 in 100,000 patients receiving treatment against retrovirus.
With such staggering rates of infection, one begins to wonder when the cost benefit ratio of needle exchange programs will outweigh the staggering health costs of caring for such a large population of infected people. With Russia’s current economic concerns taking center stage in the international press, when will they be forced to start treating the issue as a potential (yet avoidable) economic disaster, let alone a health and humanitarian catstrophe?
