HIV/AIDS Deaths in Russia Rose 2.2 Percent from 2017 to 2018, Health Ministry Reports

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 31 – The Russsian health ministry posted on its website -- but now appears to have taken it down -- a report showing that the number of Russians who died from HIV/AIDS and related diseases rose 2.2 percent between 2017 and 2018, a pattern very much at odds with trends in other countries (politsovet.ru/63520-v-rossii-vyrosla-smertnost-ot-vich-infekcii.html).

           

            The report also said, Politsovet.ru indicated in its story that the total number of Russians infected with HIV had continued to grow by 1.2 percent between those two years.  And it said that in Russia as in many other places, many deaths from this disease were caused by their victims contracting pneumonia.

            That pattern, the Russian health ministry said, reflects underlying “shortcomings in the organization of anti-tuberculosis assistance to HIV infected patients.  The increase in deaths from the disease in Russia reflects difficulties of purchasing anti-retroviral medications widely used around the world but difficult to obtain in Russia because of sanctions.