Russia accounts for majority of new HIV cases in Europe

In 2015 new HIV cases in the WHO European region increased 8%. Over the past decade, there has been a 60% increase. In 2015 64% of all new HIV cases in Europe occurred in Russia. The statistics in Russia equate to nearly 1 diagnosis for every 1500 people compared to 1 in 13,000 in the rest of the region. Russia has recently admitted to an HIV epidemic citing more than one million cases which is 0.8% of its population. At the current rate of growth, the prevalence of HIV in Russia would double to 1.6% of the population in the next 12 years.

Across Europe, infections in men who have sex with men (MSM) and heterosexuals have increased while frequency in injecting drug users has decreased. In Russia, half of all recorded cases are ascribed to heterosexual sex while a third result from injecting drug use. The information was published in the annual surveillance report by the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and WHO Europe.