An increase in the number of HIV-detected cases
in Russia has drastically accelerated since the second half of the 1990s
(Table 3). Overall, in the period from the start of 1987 to March 1, 2003,
FRMC AIDS registered 232,400 HIV-infected Russian citizens, 87% of them
were detected after 1999. The people living with HIV/AIDS (HIV/AIDS prevalence)
accounted in 2002 for about 0.16% of the country’s population, or 0.3%
of the adult population between the ages of 15 and 49. As of March 1, 2003,
811 patients, including 192 children, were diagnosed with AIDS.
Table 3. Registered
of HIV+ cases, Russia
| HIV/AIDS
cases |
1987 –1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
| Newly
detected |
-
|
1 525
|
4 366
|
4 058
|
19 953
|
59 257
|
88 422
|
50 378
|
| Cumulative
number |
1 090
|
2 615
|
6 981
|
11 039
|
30 992
|
90 249
|
178 671
|
229 049
|
Source: Vich-infektsiya (HIV-Infection)
Information bulletin (No. 25) published by the Federal Research and Methodological
Center for AIDS Prevention and Control and the National Research Institute
of Epidemiology, Russian Federation Ministry of Health.
Of the total number of those registered by FRMC
AIDS, 3,200 HIV-infected persons, including 208 children, died. 603 people
died with AIDS diagnosis. Most of the infected people died not of AIDS
but of causes not related to HIV infection, such as drug overdose, suicide,
accidents, etc. So far, HIV/AIDS has been an insignificant portion of the
overall mortality. By way of comparison: over the entire period of observations
(by 1-01-2003) 34,000 AIDS victims died in Spain, more than 33,000 - in
Italy, about 33,000 – in France, 13,000 - in Germany, and 12,500 - in Great
Britain.
The epidemic continued to spread in 2002, but the
growth rate of the number of new cases of HIV-infection slowed down. HIV
prevalence among the population of Russia rose from 0.12% in 2001 to 0.16%
by the end of 2002.
A reduction in the number of new cases detected
for the first time in 2002, as compared with 2001 (by 43%), according to
the FRMC AIDS experts, may be attributed to a cutback in the number of
those tested from among the population groups at greatest risk: drug users
(by 33%), jail inmates (by 15%), and people suffering from venereal diseases
(by 4%).
|