As recently as 2022, Russia was cited as having the fifth highest rate of new HIV diagnoses globally.[1]
Andrey Shashkov, in his article entitled Russia’s War Against Ukraine Has Seen an Explosion in HIV Rates indicates:
| “ | Russia’s HIV statistics and dynamics were far from encouraging long before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. But the full-scale war has dramatically worsened the situation. In the first year of the war, according to Defense Ministry data, the recorded incidence of HIV among military personnel soared by more than forty times. The demographic and economic losses Russia will suffer as a result of this outbreak will have repercussions for decades and may ultimately even exceed the damage it has sustained from its invasion of Ukraine.[2] | ” |
As of late 2024, Russia has recorded approximately 1.7 million HIV infections and nearly 500,000 AIDS-related deaths since the epidemic began. In 2024, HIV deaths reached about 30,000 per year which exacerbating Russia's labor shortages amid its ongoing war in Ukraine.[3]
The Kennan Institute reported in 2023 about Russia's AIDS epidemic:
| “ | As recently as 2022, Russia was cited as having the fifth highest rate of new HIV diagnoses globally... The high prevalence of HIV is attributable to multiple factors, including high rates of intravenous drug use and unprotected sex among high-risk populations.
Today, Russia’s response remains muted, and the crisis continues to grow. The rate of infections is estimated to increase by 10 percent to 15 percent per year, meaning that up to 150,000 Russians will be diagnosed with HIV in 2023 alone. Russia’s population is over 140 million people. For comparison, in the United States, with a population of over 330 million, approximately 36,000 are estimated to be infected in 2023.[4] |
” |
Politico reported about Russia's AIDS epidemic in 2020:
| “ | Today, there’s little denying that AIDS is also a Russian disease. More than 340,000 Russians have died of AIDS, two-thirds of them in the past decade. In 2018 alone, the last year for which precise figures are available, AIDS took the lives of 37,000 people across Russia, with the rate of new infections rising by between 10 percent and 15 percent a year, according to the World Health Organization...
Although needle-sharing among drug addicts was one of the main reasons the disease spread so quickly, most HIV transmissions in Russia — 57 percent — are now a result of heterosexual sex. Drug use is responsible for 40 percent, while gay sex accounts for around 3 percent, according to Russia’s Federal Research Center for AIDS Prevention and Control in Moscow.[5] |
” |
2025: Russia’s war against Ukraine has seen an explosion in HIV Rates
2023: Current Trends of HIV Infection in the Russian Federation
According to the abstract for the journal article Current Trends of HIV Infection in the Russian Federation in the journal Viruses:
| “ | Russia remains one of the areas most affected by HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The aim of this study was to analyze HIV infection indicators and study trends in Russia using data from the Federal Statistic Form No. 61 “Information about HIV infection”. HIV incidence, prevalence, HIV testing and mortality rates (from 2011 to 2022), and treatment success rates (from 2016 to 2022) were analyzed. These indicators were compared across different federal districts (FDs) of Russia. The findings revealed a significant downward trend in HIV incidence, while a significant upward trend was observed for HIV prevalence. The mortality rate has stabilized since 2018. The coverage of HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy increased over time. The number of people living with HIV-1 (PLWH) with a suppressed viral load in Russia as a whole varied between 72% and 77% during the years under observation. The Siberian and Ural federal districts recorded the highest HIV incidence, while the North Caucasian FD reported the lowest. An increase in HIV testing coverage was observed across all FDs. This comprehensive evaluation of HIV infection indicators within the regional context contributes to the timely implementation of measures aimed at preventing the spread of HIV.[6] | ” |
Journal articles
- Current Trends of HIV Infection in the Russian Federation, Viruses. 2023 Oct 26;15(11):2156. doi: 10.3390/v15112156
- HIV in the Russian Federation: mortality, prevalence, risk factors, and current understanding of sexual transmission, AIDS. 2022 Dec 6;37(4):637–645. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000003441
- Explaining Russia’s Struggle to Eradicate HIV/AIDS: Institutions, Agenda Setting and the Limits to Multiple-Streams Processes, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice. Volume 23, 2021 - Issue 3
- A Geospatial Bibliometric Review of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the Russian Federation, Frontiers in Public Health. 2020; 8: 75. Published online 2020 Apr 2. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00075
- Not an epidemic, but a global problem: the authorities’ construction of HIV/AIDS in Russia, Medicine 99(21):p e18945, May 22, 2020. | DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000018945
- The Silenced Epidemic: Why Does Russia Fail to Address HIV?, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, January 31, 2020
References
- ↑ HIV in Russia Is a Human Rights Problem, 2023
- ↑ Russia’s War Against Ukraine Has Seen an Explosion in HIV Rates by Andrey Shashkov
- ↑ AIDS in Russia
- ↑ HIV in Russia Is a Human Rights Problem, 2023
- ↑ The epidemic Russia doesn’t want to talk about, Politico, 2020
- ↑ Current Trends of HIV Infection in the Russian Federation, Viruses. 2023 Nov; 15(11): 2156. Published online 2023 Oct 26. doi: 10.3390/v15112156