Sub-Saharan Africa is infamous for having the world’s most serious HIV/AIDs problem, a devastating disease responsible for the death of more than 1 million people in 2013. Despite its prevalence there, new cases of HIV infections, both in Africa and other parts of the world, have declined in recent years.

But the same cannot be said for Russia – an economic powerhouse, griped by conservative values that stand in the way of addressing its fast growing AIDs epidemic. Currently, about 1 million people living in Russia , out of the country’s population of 143 million, are HIV-positive, according to Newsweek. It adds that the number of cases have doubled since 2010. The problem is believed to be far worse than current estimates, due to the shame and embarrassment associated with the disease, which discourages people from being tested.

“A combination of widespread intravenous drug use, ignorance of or disregard for the perils of unsafe sex, and the conservative policies that have held sway in the Kremlin since Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency in 2012 have sent HIV infection rates soaring in Russia.”

The United Nations estimate that 1 out of 3 HIV-positive injecting drug users in the world reside in Russia

More than two percent of those in the highest risk group – individuals aged 30 to 35 – are HIV positive, with about 200 new infections popping up every day, says Vadim Pokrovsky. He is head of the Federal AIDS Center in Moscow, and an outspoken critic of the government’s conservative values, which he says are undermining efforts to curb the nation’s HIV problem.

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“The epidemic is gathering strength,” Pokrovsky told the Independent. “Unfortunately, the measures that have been taken have clearly not been enough.”

The so-called measures he’s referring to include advice given by the influential Russian Orthodox Church which believes that “virtue and chastity” is the best way to fight the growing HIV/AIDs problem – an approach differing vastly from the World Health Organization’s guidelines.

The key tools recommended by WHO include clean needle programs and opioid substitution therapy, such as methadone treatment, a synthetic opiate given to addicts to help wean them off drugs. But Russia refuses to do either, arguing those efforts only enable drug use and more unprotected sex.

Sex education banned in Russia’s high schools

“Yevgeny Voronin, Russia’s top HIV specialist, decries what he says is a Western obsession with the heroin substitute. ‘Methadone is not a magic wand,’ he says. He insists that a combination of increased testing and treatment with powerful antiretroviral drugs is the best way to halt the rise of new HIV infections in Russia. He also maintains that the distribution of needles would only exacerbate the problem by increasing the appetite for drug use.

“The strong influence of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church means sex education in high schools is taboo. Bishop Panteleimon, head of the church’s department for charity and social ministry, says sex ed would merely encourage teenagers to ‘experiment’ with sex,” Newsweek reports.

A lot can be learned, however, from observing the methods of other cultures. For example in Germany, “where sex education is taught in high schools, needle exchanges are common, and prostitution is legal, there were 3,000 new HIV infections in 2014.

“In Russia, whose population is nearly twice as big, around 30 times more new infections occurred over the same period, with 50 percent the result of sharing dirty needles and 42 percent due to unprotected heterosexual sex, according to Russian officials.”

“The Russian government not only fails to support, it hinders the implementation of effective prevention programs that we and other nongovernmental organizations attempt to carry out,” said Anya Sarang, Director of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice, an outreach group that provides drug users with condoms, clean needles and medical supplies.

“The importance of harm reduction programs in preventing HIV infections is recognized the world over. They exist in China, in Iran, in the United States, in Central Asia and in Eastern Europe. Russia, however, takes an aggressive, unscientific stance—and it is one of the few countries in which the HIV epidemic continues to grow.”

Russian officials estimate that more 3 million people could be infected with HIV by the year 2020.

Sources:

(1) NewsWeek.com

(2) Avert.org

(3) Independent.co.uk