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  • Title: Country on the verge of an AIDS epidemic. Russia, education (health).
    Journal: Sex Wkly Plus; 1997 Jun 30; ():5. PubMed ID: 12292710.
    Abstract:
    This news brief indicates that HIV infections in Russia could rapidly increase from a few thousand currently to almost 800,000 by the year 2000. The Kremlin initiated an advertising campaign targeting 15-24 year olds with a message of safe sex. Health authorities are accepting the help of Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders). The group will adapt strategies that were successful abroad to local Russian conditions. About 76% of HIV-infected persons are intravenous drug users. There is the potential for the spread of HIV heterosexually. Already, syphilis infections have increased by 60 times over the past 8 years. Syphilis cases increased from around zero in 1988 to almost 400,000 at present. HIV infections have spread rapidly in Kaliningrad, which is a port city and a crossroads for the drug trade. Medecins sans Frontieres is targeting education programs to young drug users and training programs to medical workers. Television spots, music, billboards, bus signs, and the press are being used to spread the message about using condoms to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The task of health education and behavior change will be difficult in a country where most people have unhealthy life styles of smoking, alcohol drinking, and non-use of seatbelts. People are well informed about the dangers of AIDS, but people do not adopt health-protective behavior. At present, foreign condom makers dominate the market and are the ones most likely to benefit from the campaign. Russian condom producers have not shifted production from the heavy-duty Soviet era condoms that are referred to as "galoshes" to thin Western-style condoms. The number of new cases in 1996 exceeded the total number of cases in the preceding 9 years. By May 1997 there were 4494 HIV-infected persons, of whom 259 had full-blown AIDS.
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