Experts: Russia Lacks Will to Fight AIDS

Thu Nov 18,10:17 AM ET

By MARIA DANILOVA, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW - AIDS (news - web sites) and the HIV virus (news - web sites) are
spreading at an alarming pace in Russia, but the government lacks the
political will to combat the epidemic that may claim tens of thousands of
lives within the next few years, leading experts warned Wednesday.

"Russia remains among countries with the highest rates of the spread of the
AIDS epidemic," Natalia Ladnaya, a senior researcher at the Russian Federal
AIDS Center, said at a conference of experts from the United States, Europe
and Asia.

Russia has officially registered more than 300,000 HIV (news - web
sites)-positive people, but experts estimate that the real number is closer
to 1.5 million - about 2 percent of the adult population - Ladnaya said.

Although the virus used to spread in Russia primarily through intravenous
drug use, more than 40 percent of new HIV cases reported this year were
young women who were infected through heterosexual intercourse, she said.

Ladnaya warned that the mortality rate from AIDS in Russia is expected to
increase significantly, with only 3,000 of the 50,000 HIV-infected people
currently receiving the treatment they need.

"In 2005 we won't have the funds to treat more than 10,000 people," Ladnaya
said, adding that this estimate included anticipated foreign donations.

But she stressed that even increased funding is not enough to tackle the
epidemic, until top Russian officials commit to fighting the spread of the
virus. Ladnaya said that state funding for HIV/AIDS research is insufficient
and that President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) mentioned AIDS only
once in his speeches.

Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of the Federal AIDS Center, had warned earlier as
many as 1 million people may die of AIDS in Russia by 2008 if the government
fails to take action.

"It is only when high-level officials support the fight (against HIV/AIDS)
that it becomes effective," Ladnaya said.

Anneli Uuskula, an AIDS expert at Estonia's University of Tartu, said that
society as a whole must address the problem.

"We also need the community and non-governmental organizations to take
action in this," Uuskula said.

Experts warned that the spread of HIV/AIDS may also lead to higher rates of
tuberculosis. Igor Shemyakin of the State Research Center for Applied
Microbiology said HIV-positive patients are 10 to 20 times more likely to
develop tuberculosis than those with a healthy immune system.

Researchers should pay special attention to multi-drug resistant
tuberculosis, when the patient does not react to the most common drugs used
to treat the disease, Shemyakin said. In 2003, Russia registered 120,000 new
cases of tuberculosis, with another 130,000 people already infected, experts
said.