HIV is coming

HIV infection in Russia has gone beyond the risk groups and is actively spreading

Anna Kerman, XX2 centuryOn the graph, you can see how the number of new (newly detected) cases of HIV infection is gradually increasing (blue line).

"The epidemiological situation of HIV infection in The Russian Federation continues to deteriorate." These words begin the reference prepared by the Federal Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS and published by the Russian news Agency Ura.ru .

The document contains the most important epidemiological indicators, for example, the number of new cases of HIV infection, the general prevalence of HIV infection in the population and the age groups in which the infection occurs most often. The most common ways of transmission of the virus to date are also named.

Destroying the intrigue, let's just say that the final statement of the authors of the document looks disappointing.

"While maintaining the current rate of HIV infection and the absence of adequate systemic measures to prevent its spread, the prognosis of the situation is unfavorable," the certificate states.

How bad everything is can be judged by the following data. Cases of HIV infection have been registered in all regions of the country. At the same time, the number of regions with high HIV infection is constantly growing (more than 0.5% of the total population). In 2014, there were 22 such regions, in 2017. – it's already 32. In total, 49.5% of Russian residents live in such disadvantaged regions – that is, almost half of the country's population.

We have put 10 regions in which the prevalence of HIV infection is maximum in a separate table.

According to the authors of the certificate, "HIV infection has gone beyond vulnerable groups of the population and is actively spreading in the general population." More than half (53.5%) of patients in 2017 became infected with heterosexual contacts, while the proportion of those infected with injecting drug use decreased to 43.6%.

As for the coverage of patients with dispensary observation and treatment, these figures are growing from year to year. However, up to the targets of 90-90-90 (all UN members have made commitments by 2020 to identify 90% of HIV-infected people, 90% of them to take on antiretroviral therapy and 90% of those receiving treatment to achieve suppression of viral load) is still far away: only 35.5% of those living with a diagnosis of HIV infection or 47.8% of those who were on dispensary observation are covered by treatment.

"The treatment coverage achieved in Russia does not solve the problem of preventive measures and does not allow to radically reduce the rate of spread of the disease and the increase in mortality from HIV infection," the document says.

But even these figures do not fully reflect the real situation. As explained to the agency Ura.ru in According to the Federal Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, "treatment coverage is a percentage of the number of people who came to the doctors. But not everyone is registered: about 25 percent does not reach doctors. This group cannot be covered by treatment in any way, even if there are "a lot of drugs": one is afraid that his infection will become known, another is afraid to go to the doctor, the third does not go because the disease does not manifest for a long time, the fourth because he has no interest in being treated. No matter how much we treat those who go to the doctors, the rest who do not come will spread the disease. We need special programs to attract these people to treatment."

Indeed, it is impossible to "attract to treatment" now. Therefore, we can all hope for the awareness and responsibility of HIV-infected people, as well as for the fact that they will not believe in the stories of so-called HIV dissidents and will make the right decision on the timely initiation of antiretroviral therapy. After all, not only the duration and quality of life of the patients themselves depends on this decision, but also the rate of spread of infection in the general population.

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