By Sophie Lambroschini

In the past year, the number of registered cases of HIV -- the virus that

causes AIDS -- has doubled in Russia, a sudden surge in an epidemic that hit

the country later than elsewhere in Europe. This week, in advance of the

annual World AIDS Day (1 December), the country's top health officials are

calling for more financial aid and more prevention-oriented efforts. Moscow

correspondent Sophie Lambroschini reports.

Moscow, 28 November 2000 (RFE/RL) -- Russia today has only 418 registered

cases of AIDS, with some 700 people known to have died from the usually fatal

disease in the past. But the country's health authorities are warning that

hundreds of thousands may already be infected with HIV -- the virus that

triggers AIDS -- and that more people will be infected in the next few years

when the epidemic shifts from intravenous drug users to the general

population.

Russia' Health Ministry classified HIV as an "epidemic" earlier this year.

Two months ago, a United Nations representative in Moscow, Philippe

Elghouayel, said that Russia now has the highest HIV infection rate in the

world.

Russia currently has about 70,000 registered HIV cases -- a number that has

doubled over the past year -- of which almost all are intravenous drug users.

The UN's World Health Organization estimates Russia's non-diagnosed HIV cases

at about 130,000. But Vadim Pokrovsky, Russia's top AIDS specialist, says

that the real number of HIV cases could be between 300,000 and 400,000. A

similar figure was cited by the director of the UN's UNAIDS department, Peter

Piot, during a trip to Moscow earlier this month.

At a Moscow press conference today, Aleksandr Goliusov, who is charge of

combating AIDS at Russia's Health Ministry, acknowledged that the

government's earlier efforts had to be overhauled because authorities had not

expected an epidemic.

"At the moment, we are finishing work on a new program for the period from

2002 to 2007. The problem is that the old program was adopted in 1996, when

the epidemiological situation was different. At the time, we had not yet seen

the spread of HIV among drug users that make up 90 percent of all new cases

now."

Drug addiction is a widespread problem among Russian youth, who consume

anything from heroin to cheap pharmacy mixes costing about one dollar. Heroin

addiction is relatively common, with some cases even having turned up in some

of Moscow's elite scientific institutes.

Pokrovsky and Goliusov agree that future AIDS prevention should target the

population at large in order to hold back the spread of the disease from

intravenous drug users to transmission through heterosexual relations. The

rate of sexually transmitted diseases in Russia has increased dramatically

over the past 10 years, indicating that a similar evolution of HIV could

occur.

Pokrovsky told today's press conference that Russia, like many African

countries, cannot afford the $1,000 monthly cost of HIV therapies available

to the fortunate few in the West. He says it must therefore concentrate on

prevention policies, taking advantage of an educated population that watches

television and reads the newspapers to get its message across.

But Pokrovsky notes that, as in some other countries, a battle is going on in

Russia between a conservative lobby and what he calls a "democratic" one. He

says the conservatives -- influenced by religious or communist values -- are

against full sex education in the schools. The "democrats," he says, believe

children should be taught to take into account that many people have several

sexual partners in the course of their lives -- and are therefore more at

risk of contracting the disease.

"We can clearly see this battle inside the Education Ministry, where there is

still no state policy on sex education in schools. One proposed program

earlier was criticized and rejected for allegedly pressing open and free

sexual behavior on children."

But Russia's Health Ministry insists that the main problem is simply lack of

money. Officials note that the anti-AIDS program set up four years ago only

began receiving financing last year. And this year, less that $1.5 million,

or 20 percent of the sum allocated, was actually paid out to the ministry.

Most of it has gone to buying and distributing prevention kits.

The government points out that it helps through other forms of support.

Non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, combating AIDS receive free time on

state television. And Moscow's city council allows free advertisement space

for prevention ads.

In addition, Russia also receives financial aid from abroad. In addition to

help from international NGOs, the UN's anti-AIDS program has contributed

about $750,000 this year, and the World Bank recently offered Russia a

$150-million loan to help fight the disease.