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Russian HIV infections up 5.4 pct in 2016

Xinhua, February 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

The number of HIV-infected Russians rose by 5.4 percent year-on-year in 2016, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said Friday.

"According to preliminary data, 103,438 new cases of HIV infection were registered in 2016," TASS news agency quoted Golodets as saying at a meeting of the Government Council on Guardianship.

It is estimated that 870,952 Russians are now living with HIV, with 77.5 percent of them being subject to regular medical check-ups, according to her.

The actual number of HIV-infected Russians could be as high as 1.5 million, Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the Federal AIDS Center, told a meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences in December 2016.

The government has earmarked 19.78 billion rubles (about 335.25 million U.S. dollars) to prevent further spread of the deadly virus, Golodets said.

In October 2016, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a state strategy to combat HIV spread.

It includes the improvement of legislation in HIV prevention, social support for and rehabilitation of the infected, as well as support for non-profit organizations working with persons from high-risk groups. Endit