OREANDA-NEWS  The incidence of HIV infection in Russia is decreasing, in 2021 it decreased by 2% compared to 2020, the press service of the Ministry of Health of Russia reported.

"The preventive and curative measures carried out make it possible to increase the life expectancy of patients and reduce the risk of the spread of the disease. The incidence of HIV infection in Russia is steadily decreasing: by 6.8% in 2019 compared to 2018, by 24.8% in 2020 compared to 2019, by 2.0% in 2021 compared to 2020," the report says.

Earlier, the media reported that by the end of 2021, Russia was among the five countries with the highest rate of HIV infection. According to publications, this allegedly follows from data provided by the Joint United Nations HIV Program/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation denied these data and called them "another propaganda provocation."

"In total, the incidence from 2018 to 2021 decreased by 31.4%, from 58.6 to 40.2 per 100 thousand population. At the same time, improving the quality and life expectancy of patients leads to their "accumulation" in the contingents. However, the level of such accumulation is not sharp," the report says. The ministry added that by the end of 2021, the number of people living with HIV in Russia amounted to 851,754, which is about 0.58% of the country's population.