Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 15;37(4):637-645.
doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000003441. Epub 2022 Dec 6.

HIV in the Russian Federation: mortality, prevalence, risk factors, and current understanding of sexual transmission

Zlatko Nikoloski  1 , Elizabeth J King  2 , Elias Mossialos  1
Affiliations

HIV in the Russian Federation: mortality, prevalence, risk factors, and current understanding of sexual transmission

Zlatko Nikoloski et al. AIDS. .

Abstract

Background: Although HIV infection in the Russian Federation was historically concentrated among marginalized populations (people who inject drugs, sex workers, MSM, and the prison population), recent evidence suggests that it has become a more generalized epidemic. The objective of our research was to explore how these trends in HIV prevalence and HIV-related mortality compare across Russia.

Methods: We calculated HIV-associated mortality for both male and female individuals in each region (oblast) of the Russian Federation using data from the Russian Fertility and Mortality Database (RusFMD). Using current data on HIV prevalence, we computed the correlation between HIV prevalence and HIV-associated mortality. We also used oblast-level data to examine the associations between HIV prevalence and the risk factors most commonly associated with HIV infection.

Results: Over the past 20 years, the Russian Federation has experienced a rapid increase in HIV-associated mortality in both male and female individuals. Our findings revealed significant heterogeneity, with higher rates of HIV-associated mortality reported in oblasts in the Siberian and Ural Federal Districts. There is a strong correlation (0.8) between HIV-associated mortality and virus prevalence. These findings confirm that there are regional disparities in access and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), as indicated by the low correlation (-0.4) between virus prevalence and access to ART coverage. The results from our modeling analysis revealed that, in addition to the factors most commonly associated with this disease (e.g. intravenous drug use), knowledge about sexual transmission of HIV in the general population has a broad impact on its prevalence at the oblast level.

Conclusion: Interventions that reduce HIV prevalence, for example, opioid substitution therapy and needle-sharing programs for people who inject drugs, as well as the increased availability of educational and preventive programs may halt the spread of HIV across the Russian Federation. Similarly, increased access to treatment could help in reducing HIV-related mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Russian Federation: HIV mortality by oblast in 2018, female (panel a) and male (panel b).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Russian Federation: HIV prevalence by oblast for 2018.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. UNAIDS. Available at: http://aidsinfo.unaids.org/dataset [Accessed 10 October 2020]
    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (2019). HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Europe 2019.
    1. Pokrovsky VV, Ladnaya NN, Tushina OI, Buravtsova EV. VICh-infekciya Informacionnyj byulleten no 40 [HIV infection Information Bulletin no 40] Moscow. 2015.
    1. Russian Federal AIDS Centre (2019). VICH Infekciya: Informacionniyi Buletin 44. Available at: http://www.hivrussia.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Byulleten-44-VICH-i.... [Accessed 1 March 2022]
    1. Zagdyn ZM, Kovelenov AU, Semikova SU, Mikhaylova EA, Epov VP, Ganbaatar O, Galkin VB. Spread of HIV Infection in Leningrad Oblast in 1999–2009. EpiNorth 2010; 11:121–130.