Antiretroviral therapy in Russia

Objective. To evaluate antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Russia and the measures necessary for its performance to follow up patients. Materials and methods. Data on ART in Russia, which had been obtained from literary sources, during a special study, and from the reporting forms of the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being, were analyzed. Results. ART has been performed in Russia since 1987, first according to monotherapy regimens; since 1996, individual patients have begun receiving treatment according to highly active ART regimens. Since 2006, this regimen has become widely available. During the period 2008-2020, the number of people living with HIV increased by 2.5 times, so did the number of patients who were under regular medical check-up, while the number of people receiving ART increased by 17.2 times. As a result, the follow-up coverage of patients practically did not change, amounting to an average of 75%. At the same time, the ART coverage of HIV-infectedpatients increased from 8% in 2008 to 53% in 2020. Whereas 30.6% of the patients with detected HIV infection did not regularly go through medical check-up, and taking into account the patients who did not show up to examination that year, as well as those who did not undergo a CD4+ lymphocyte count test, the healthcare system has no data on the health status of 36.7% of the alive registered HIV-infected patients or 11.4% of the patients followed up. 47% of the people living with HIV did not receive ART; and the same is true for 16.6% of those regularly going through medical check-up. Conclusion. Despite a substantial increase in the number of patients receiving ART, the problem of insufficient coverage of HIV-infected patients by follow-up, laboratory examination for immune status, and viral load, as well as ART remains relevant.

HIV infection, follow-up, ART, ART coverage, ART efficiency markers, antiretroviral drugs