Russia’s chief epidemiologist admitted yesterday that supplies of antiretroviral drugs are running short in the country, and that people with HIV in regions such as Siberia are experiencing interruptions in treatment because of badly managed drug supply.
Last month Russian AIDS activists highlighted the interruptions in drug supply in regions such as Rostov-on-Don, Bashkortostan, Voronezh, Mahachkala and Habarovsk.
They claimed that drug supplies had run out because regions not covered by the Global Fund-supported Globus project had failed to receive money promised by Russia’s Federal government for expansion of treatment.
The Russian government announced a major increase in funding for HIV treatment in 2006, allocating $156 million to AIDS treatment and prevention and promising to provide treatment free of charge.
However, yesterday chief epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko told Associated Press: “A problem in the sufficiency of antiretroviral drugs in Russia exists. We know about this issue and are trying to regulate it, but I will say that it won’t be solved right now.”
“There is, let’s say, a full range of treatments in Moscow, but they are lacking somewhere in Siberia.”
Onishchenko said that drug supplies had run short because orders had been placed too late, the numbers requiring treatment had been underestimated and distributors had been inflexible in supplying drugs.
Nevertheless, he claimed that 15,000 Russian will have access to antiretrovirals by the end of 2006, and that number could double during 2007. However, Russia has at least 335,000 people registered as HIV-positive, and could have more than one million people already living with HIV, some epidemiologists estimate.
Russia hosts the annual summit of the Group of Eight this weekend in St Petersburg, where AIDS will be amongst the subjects for discussion. Last year’s G8 meeting at Gleneagles in Scotland committed to achieving universal access to HIV treatment, care and prevention by 2010.
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