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 Official: Russia Not Ready For Tough HIV
Measures
by The Associated Press
Posted: May 6, 2008 - 11:30 am ET
(Moscow) Russia is "not ready'' to adopt measures that could prevent
thousands of people from getting infected with the virus that causes AIDS, the
country's chief public health officer says.
Gennady Onishchenko said regulations aren't strong enough to allow measures
such as methadone replacement therapy for heroin addicts to work properly.
Health advocates say such therapy is vital to Russia because of the
particular way HIV has spread through the
country.
Up to 80 per cent of Russia's 1.6 million HIV-positive people
became infected through dirty needles, according to various estimates.
The World Health Organization, the United Nations and United States, among
others, have published studies showing that injecting drug users who switch to
clinic-supplied methadone are up to five times less likely to contract HIV.
Nevertheless, Onishchenko said he was ``not convinced'' about the
effectiveness of the so-called substitution therapy, which is illegal under
current legislation.
Even if it were effective, Onishchenko said, weak law enforcement would mean
the clinics would ``turn into shops for drugs.'' He spoke at a news briefing at
the conclusion of a conference in Moscow on AIDS.
Craig McClure, executive director of the International AIDS Society, said
scientific evidence about the effectiveness of substitution therapy is
overwhelming.
Substitution therapy, he said, ``could have a dramatic impact if implemented
properly.''
Michel Kazatchkine, the director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, said
substitute therapy is serious and Russia shouldn't handle the issue as it does
regular politics.
``You have countries that are moving in the right direction...and others that
do not move. Russia is like an isolated island,'' Kazatchkine said.
``Where intravenous drug use drives over 60 per cent of the epidemic, you
cannot afford not to have a comprehensive approach.''
Compounding the problem, activists said, Onishchenko's sentiments on
substitution therapy reflect the attitudes of the government and the population
as a whole.
Kazatchkine said few voices in the national legislature and the dominant
political party support such initiatives and the Moscow government is overly
conservative in its approach toward AIDS issues.
``There is a basic lack of political support,'' he said.
Onishchenko said uninformed Russians have little patience for drug users,
preferring to ostracize them rather than address their needs.
Still, most activists and officials agree there has been progress in Russia,
highlighted by a general slowing in the number of new cases registered annually.
McClure said the myths about AIDS are gradually being erased from the
public's consciousness, with TV ads that try to convince people that they can't
catch HIV from washing the dishes or, say, holding hands.
©365Gay.com 2008
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