Russian Ministry of Health described the HIV situation in the country as serious
The HIV/AIDS situation in Russia is extremely serious, with more than 800,000 HIV-positive people living in the country, reported the top HIV specialist from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Evgeny Voronin, to Rosbalt.
“The number of drug users has begun to decrease, but at the same time people are increasingly infected by sexual contact. Now, those people make up about 40 percent [of people infected with HIV]. That is why everyone should understand that people must undergo HIV/AIDS tests. Today we have everything necessary to [conduct the tests],” Voronin said.
Earlier it was reported that the first deputy head of the Health Department of Yekaterinburg, Tatiana Savinova, announced that an HIV epidemic had been officially declared in the city. According to local authorities, 25,693 cases of HIV infection were registered in Yekaterinburg, which represents 1,826 out of 100,000 people, approximately 1.8% of the population.
According to Evgeny Voronin, an epidemic can only be officially declared by Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing).
“An epidemic cannot be declared by the head of the Health Department. It must be done with the reference to general criterion of the World Health Organization [WHO]. According to WHO, an epidemic is a situation when the number of HIV-positive people exceeds 1 percent,” he added.