The rate of HIV spread in Russia reached a maximum

As a result of 2017, Russia recorded 88.6 thousand new HIV cases, which is 1.5 times higher than it was in 2010, Russian newspaper Izvestia reports.

The Ministry of Health explains the increase in new cases by the increase in the coverage of the population by testing.

The data of the federal scientific and methodological center for the prevention and control of AIDS of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor (ed. “authority of epidemiology”) differ from the data of the Ministry of Health. According to them, 104,400 new HIV infections were registered in Russia, the head of the Federal AIDS Center, Vadim Pokrovsky, told Life4me+.

The difference in the calculations between the two authorities was always present since they use different approaches. Rospotrebnadzor considers everyone who has been tested positive for HIV antibodies, and the Ministry of Health in turn - only those who have already come to AIDS centers, registered there by ID and have made a confirmation HIV test (Western blot). "Most likely this is the difference," Pokrovsky said.

The difference in estimates is 15.8 thousand people, and this is 15% of those who did not seem to reach the AIDS centers after receiving a positive HIV test. Earlier at the II St. Petersburg forum on HIV infection "Modern Aspects of Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment" Pokrovsky noted that more than 20% of people who have HIV infection do not reach the AIDS centers and any clinics. This fact correlates with the results obtained above.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, now in Russia there are slightly less than 1 million HIV-positive people. This makes about 0.7% of the total population. If you rely on the recent mass testing by the Ministry of Health in conjunction with RZD (Russian railway), it is 1.5% of the population, which, according to Pokrovsky, is closer to reality.