HOW CAN LIMITED RESOURCES BE UTILIZED WHEN HIV EPIDEMIC IS ON THE RISE

The report presents an analysis of the main problems met by Russian medicine in treating HIV patients. Obstacle in controlling HIV epidemic include injection drug use, increasing HIV prevalence in a number of regions, and high mortality rates among HIV patients despite HAART provided to them. The lifespans of HIV patients treated or untreated with HAART are comparable because of delayed HIV diagnoses and therapy onsets, psychoactive drug abuse, comorbid conditions, poor adherence to therapeutic regimens, obsolete therapeutic approaches, and low quality of therapeutic drugs. The scope of and expenses for HAART are increasing faster in the world than in Russia, where the main problem is still the lack of sufficient funds for laboratory support and drug provision for HAART. Some comments on several governmental bodies in charge of planning HIV-related medical, financial and human resources are given, and examples of different attitudes to the problem ranging from adequate to inadequate understanding and to the refusal to understand it at all are provided. Comprehensive approaches are needed to implement the most urgent medico-social, preventive and therapeutic programs able to control the second wave of HIV epidemic in Russia.

HIV infection, HAART, expenses, therapeutic success and failure