While Russia grapples with HIV epidemic, Moscow’s addicts share their filthy needles

Infection rates are set to hit three million, but drug use and unsafe sex - the main causes - are rife
The Observer (UK)
Sunday, May 24, 2015

The government does not offer substitution therapy or harm reduction outreach, and the impact of grassroots groups such as Rylkov, which has only 15 staffers, is limited. The official count of Russians living with HIV has risen to 930,000 from 500,000 in 2010, and the actual number is probably much higher. Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the federal Aids centre in Moscow, predicted this month that at least two million Russians are likely to be officially registered as HIV-positive within five years, and a total of three million will have the virus.