18.04.2018

At the VI Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference, which started on Wednesday 18 April in Moscow, the Russian Prime Minister reminded participants about the need to increase the quality of treatment for patients with HIV.

As reported on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website, Dmitri Medvedev noted that epidemiological checks and overview of the spread of HIV infections need to be improved, the quality of treatment needs to be raised and medical, as well as a widening of medical and social support of people with HIV. “Russia pays great attention to this problem and leads an active fight against HIV/AIDS. Every year, financing for prophylactic programmes is increased, providing significant help and support in the fight against the disease in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia”, the programme stated.

The Head of Pospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, appearing at the conference, referred to official data of the agency, that in the last five years, the rate of growth in HIV infection in Russia has decreased six-fold. “In 2017, the rate of growth was 2%, whilst in 2012 it was 13,4%”, TASS reported her as saying.

According to information from the Russian Deputy Minister of Health, Sergei Kraevyi, around 34 million people were tested for HIV infection in 2017. The Deputy Minister said that the number of citizens being diagnosed with the disease for the first time in 2017 maintained similar levels as 2016 and was around 86 000 people.

However, earlier, the Federal Research Centre for Prophylaxis and the Fight Against AIDS Rospotrebnadzor reported that 104 402 new cases of HIV had been recorded in 2017. At the end of last year, there were 1 220 659 registered diagnoses of HIV in the country. The overall number of HIV-positive Russians is estimated at 943 999 people, the AIDS.Centre reported.

At the VI Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference it was explained that a new drug for HIV prophylaxis has been developed in Russia. The anti-viral drug “Dinavir” is intended for gene therapy, gene prophylaxis and molecular vaccination against the HIV infection. The work on the drug is currently passing through clinical trials, RIA News reported.

Despite the development of new drugs, the main problem for patients with HIV remains interruptions to the delivery of medicine. In order to draw the attention of the country’s leaders, at the opening ceremony of the conference, during the appearance of the Deputy Chair of the Russian Government, Olga Golodets, HIV activists from various cities across Russia carried out a protest action. Participants lined up together in white t-shirts with the inscription “Stop the Shortages” in red letters. Photos of the protest action can be found here:  Action “Stop Pereboi“ Facebook.com/СашаВолгина

The VI Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference took place in Moscow 18-20 April. Around 3000 delegates from more than 50 countries took part in the forum. The organisers were the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and Rospotrebnadzor.

Source: https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2018/04/18/medvedev-vich-konferentsiya/