HIV/AIDS in Russia

HIV/AIDS in Russia
Disease	HIV
Confirmed cases	1,528,300
Deaths	405,477

The situation with the spread of HIV/AIDS in Russia is described by some researchers as an epidemic. The first cases of human immunodeficiency virus infection were recorded in the USSR in 1985-1987. Patient zero is officially considered to be a military interpreter who worked in Tanzania in the early 1980s and was infected by a local man during sexual contact. After 1988—1989 Elista HIV outbreak [ru], the disease became known to the general public and the first AIDS centers were established.^[1][2] In 1995-1996, the virus spread among injecting drug users (IDUs) and soon expanded throughout the country. By 2006, HIV had spread beyond the vulnerable IDU group, endangering their heterosexual partners and potentially the entire population.^[3][4]

It is estimated that in 2017, the Russian Federation had the highest number of HIV-positive people of any country in Europe.^[5] In the following 5 years, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing annually estimated the number of new infections at 70,000-100,000. At the end of 2021 there were 1.137 million infected people in the country, accounting for 1.5% of the adult population; 424.9 thousand people died during the entire history of the epidemic.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Nevertheless, most experts believe that the real number of HIV-positive people is significantly higher, since a noticeable part has not yet been identified.^[11][12]