The Lancet: Gaps remain in Russia’s response to HIV/AIDS
“…If action isn’t taken to curb the current annual growth rate of 10-12 percent, [the head of Russia’s Federal AIDS Centre, Vadim Pokrovksy,] predicts that there will be two million people diagnosed as HIV-positive by 2020. … And it seems that the government has taken notice. Last October, the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev asked the health ministry to draw up a national policy. … Pokrovsky adds that the government’s budget of 21 billion rubles (US$325 million) is about a fifth of what’s required to address the problem and says the most vulnerable groups in whom the transmission rates are the highest have been largely overlooked…” (Clark, 8/27).