OREANDA-NEWS. The directive was prepared by the Ministry of Healthcare pursuant to Presidential Executive Oder No. 761 of 1 June 2012 and Section I, Article 2 of instructions following a meeting of the Governmental Commission on Public Health of 23 October 2015.

Since 2006, HIV incidence in Russia has been growing at an average rate of 10 percent a year. Between 1985 and 2015, 824,706 positive HIV antibody tests were registered.

In 2015, HIV screening coverage in Russia was 19.3 percent (about 30 million people), while the availability of antiretroviral therapy to HIV-infected individuals under observation at outpatient medical institutions was 37.3 percent (216,981 people). This is due to the disinclination of most HIV-positive individuals (injection drug users) to undergo HIV tests and treatment, as well as the level of funding provided for HIV screening and antiretroviral therapy programmes.

Under the World Health Organisation’s Global Health Sector Strategies for HIV 2016-2021, to stop the HIV epidemic, no less than 90 percent of all possible HIV-positive individuals should be identified and antiretroviral therapy provided to no less than 90% of HIV-positive individuals.

The directive approves the Strategy to Combat the Spread of HIV in Russia through 2020 and beyond (hereinafter referred to as Strategy).

The Strategy identifies the goal, objectives and main directions of countering the spread of HIV in Russia and establishes its implementation parameters.

The Strategy establishes the following main parameters: the availability of HIV screening and testing; the share of HIV-positive individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy in relation to the total number of HIV-positive individuals under observation at outpatient hospitals.

The results of the Strategy’s implementation will also be assessed based on the extent of public awareness in the 18-49 age bracket of HIV issues and the development and introduction of interagency prevention programmes to reduce HIV incidence among injection drug users.