Ria Novosti Examines Reactions to Russian Government's Strategy to Reduce HIV/AIDS

Ria Novosti examines how the government in Russia is responding to the rising number of cases of HIV/AIDS in the country, driven mostly by injecting drug users. "After being virtually silent on the issue for many years, the Russian government recently announced a major HIV/AIDS initiative including a dramatic increase in funding. The country is expected to invest more than $430 million in global healthcare before 2012," the news service reports. "But not everyone is convinced of its commitment to dealing with the problem's root causes." The article includes comments by Anya Sarang, president of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, who describes the government's failure to invest in HIV prevention among the "country's most vulnerable groups," and it examines discrepancies between Russian government and U.N. estimates of injecting drug users and people living with HIV (Markosian, 9/27).

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