New Generation of Russians Ravaged by HIV Epidemic

HIV has already spread among Russian prisoners, prostitutes and injection drug users. Now, many teenage girls and young women are among the estimated 1.5 million Russians with HIV, which results in more children being born with the virus. Until 1997, according to the Federal AIDS center, only 60 newborns had HIV. Last year, 6,000 babies tested positive.

The World Bank said that without major government initiatives, lost productivity and the costs of treatment could trim more than 4 percent from Russia's annual gross domestic product by the end of the decade. By 2020, the figure could be 10.5 percent per year. The Russian government's 2004 budget allocated $1 million for HIV/AIDS prevention and $3 million for treatment for its 145 million population. By contrast, the United States spent $10.8 billion on HIV/AIDS patient care in 2000, according to the White House.

In St. Petersburg, on average, an HIV-positive mother gives birth every day. Thirty-five HIV-positive orphans live at Orphanage No.10. Olga Kim, No. 10's supervising doctor, said the children's future will not likely include adoption. Russians are generally reluctant to adopt, and foreigners balk at taking on HIV-positive children.

Kim noted that the orphans face discrimination from Russian society, school administrators and city bureaucrats who want them kept away from other children. Children who live to age 4 leave Orphanage No. 10. Under a new municipal strategy, they go to the city's House of Children, where they live while attending regular public schools. So far, only two HIV-positive children have been mainstreamed that way.

Kim said most orphans learn of their disease when they are 7. That way, they can learn to protect themselves from cuts and scratches, give themselves first aid, and ensure that their blood does not touch others. "A 7-year-old can understand this," Kim said.

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