Source: RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1550 gmt 27 Nov 00Russia's top AIDS expert said on Monday 27th November that Russia may have millions of HIV cases by the end of 2003.
Vadim Pokrovskiy, a member of Russia's Academy of Medical Science and the director of the Russian centre for prevention of AIDS, told a Moscow news conference that 699 people have died of AIDS so far in Russia, 113 of whom were children.
The Russian news agency RIA quoted Pokrovskiy as saying:
"Given the existing growth trend in the number of HIV cases, Russia will have millions of HIV cases in two-three years time."
He added that it cost over 10,000 US dollars a year to treat an AIDS case. The state budget for AIDS treatment was just R44m (1.6 m US dollars) a year, enough to treat 50 people. Russia currently has 418 people with full-blown AIDS, he said.
He said 65m US dollars needed to be spent by the government on an advertizing campaign that would tell the groups most at risk - narcotic drugs users, young people, and employees of the sex business - how to avoid catching the disease.
