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Government action needed to improve HIV situation in Russia - UNDP
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MOSCOW, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - Timely and adequate measures to fight the spread of HIV infection in Russia could considerably improve the situation in the country, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said in a report Monday.
The report, titled Russia in 2015: The Goals and Priorities of Development, said the scope of HIV in Russia and its merge with the TB epidemic and other sexually transmitted diseases threaten the country's prosperity and national security.
"But timely and adequate measures can considerably improve the situation in the country," the report said.
According to UNAIDS and WHO (World Health Organization) classifications, HIV infection in Russia has reached the stage of "concentrated epidemic, when it affects more than 5% of the people in at least one group of the population but remains below 1% among pregnant women in cities," the report said.
The report urges Russian authorities to set up a single government body or inter-departmental committee for HIV/AIDS with the powers to draft and control the implementation of strategies and programs to fight these illnesses at federal, regional, and local levels.
The number of officially registered HIV cases in Russia totaled 313,000 as of May 2005, but the real number of HIV/AIDS-infected people is considerably higher.
According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, about 860,000 people are estimated to be living with various stages of these infections.
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