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www.fdanews.com/articles/81328-russia-to-boost-hiv-aids-spending

RUSSIA TO BOOST HIV/AIDS SPENDING

October 3, 2005

The Russian government has belatedly stepped up funding to combat the growing problem of HIV/AIDS in Russia, which has one of the fastest-rising infection rates in the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that US$105mn will be spent in 2006 to treat the disease, and pledged that all those in need of ARVs will receive them. However, Putin is still refusing to classify the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country as an "epidemic."

Industry sources have welcomed the extra funding -- which is a significant improvement on the US$4.6mn allocated for the first nine months of this year -- but claim that the extra funding is still inadequate. Russian officials have recently estimated that there are more than 300,000 registered AIDS cases in the country, but conceded that between 600,000 and 1mn people could be infected.

Due to its relatively small and underdeveloped domestic drug manufacturing industry, Russia is reliant on imported ARVs -- which at a cost of between US$10,000 and US$15,000 per person per year can be prohibitively expensive. This is likely to continue in the near future, although it is expected that the government, in partnership with the UN-administered Global Fund, will attempt to cut prices.