vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #596 / Social life / Reading article...

On Saturday, when World AIDS Day will be observed all around the world, Vladivostok bands will participate in the ‘Musicians against AIDS’ concert in the city’s Underground concert hall, the event held with the assistance from the regional Center for Prevention AIDS.

On December 7, the Consulate General of the USA in Vladivostok will host a charity auction to raise money for children born of HIV-infected mothers and residing in one of the city’s hospitals.

According to the Consulate General’s public affairs department, the event is to be held at 6pm at the restaurant on the third floor of the Hotel Versailles and will auction off items ranging from trinkets to artwork. The cost of attendance is 1,000 rubles, and to reserve a place those interested should contact the Consulate General by phone at 300-070.

Throughout December, Vladivostok students will be offered lectures and training devoted to preventing AIDS at the city’s educational institutions, the statement from the regional administration said.

World AIDS Day originated in 1988 and has been observed by governments, international organizations and charities all around the world.

The statistics estimate that currently Primorye has a total of 7,153 HIV-infected people, including 44 foreigners. Of 480 children born of HIV-infected mothers, 55 tested positive for the virus.

The towns of Nakhodka, Ussurisk, Artyom and Bolshoy Kamen have the highest per-capita HIV infection rates in the region. Vladivostok ranks 14th, showing a 10-percent growth in the infected for this year’s first eleven months.

According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), in Russia the estimated number of people living with HIV amounts to 940,000. Despite the majority of HIV infections in the country registered among injecting drug users, there is a significant rise in heterosexual transmission, the site www.unaids.com said.

However, despite Russia’s AIDS preventing efforts, the situation in the country is aggravated by the lack of a government organization focused on the issue, Dianne Post, Senior Attorney for Vladivostok’s Office of the American Bar Association, told during her presentation on human rights and HIV/AIDS on Tuesday. “Russia has no single authority engaged in preventing and fighting the infection,” she said.

Post stressed that the current situation with AIDS in the country is a result of the government not putting enough effort into prevention ten years ago, before an abrupt rise in the number of HIV-infected people was observed.

Another hindrance, she stressed, is the lack of funds allocated to battle the issue. “There is a lot of aid needed right here in Russia,” she said noting that overall tendencies for the spread of AIDS in the country are not positive, unlike the overall situation in the world. According to Post, there has not been that kind of forward movement due to the lack of information, medical technology and discrimination against HIV-infected people.

Last year, a total of 3.1 billion rubles ($127 million) was allocated to Russia’s regions for purchasing medicine, test-systems and lab equipment for AIDS-prevention centers within the National Policy Project ‘Health.’ This year the sum has already reached seven billion rubles ($286.9 million).