NEW YORK, JULY 17 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has the largest Aids epidemic in Eastern Europe and needs to take tougher action, Vinay Saldanha, deputy chief of staff of the UN agency for tackling Aids, told RIA Novosti.
“Russia has the largest HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe, which continued to grow in 2013 with a record in the number of newly-reported cases of HIV. Russia has made progress in almost eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV, and scaling up HIV treatment to over 150,000 people living with HIV,” Saldanha said.
“However, Aids-related mortality continues to increase, suggesting that the scale-up of HIV treatment should be further accelerated and increased. The HIV epidemic in Russia continues to be concentrated among marginalized populations, including most significantly, injecting drug users.”
A new report from UNAIDS showed that 35 million people around the world were living with HIV, the Aids-causing virus, in 2013. There were 2.1 million new cases last year, 38 percent less than the 3.4 million figure in 2001. Globally, the disease can be brought under control by 2030.
Researchers found that Aids-related deaths have fallen by a fifth in the past three years, standing at 1.5 million a year. Such African countries as South Africa and Ethiopia have particularly improved.
Some countries are being left behind, the report adds. The Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia and South Sudan face the “triple threat” of high HIV rates, low treatment coverage and no or little decline in new infections.
“Any country or region that does not implement HIV programs based on scientific evidence and international best practices will face serious challenges to halt the HIV epidemic,” Saldanha told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
