Ten regions in Russia flagged as HIV-critical — Health Ministry
MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. Mounting levels of HIV prevalence have been recorded in 10 regions of Russia, including the Sverdlovsk region (in the Urals), Russian Health Minister, Veronika Skvortsova, told reporters on Thursday.
"There are 10 critical regions. The list is topped by the Sverdlovsk region and Yekaterinburg, which has made media headlines recently," the minister stressed. According to Skvortsova, in these areas "HIV prevalence is significantly higher than in other regions."
She noted that, in general, HIV is spread unevenly across the country, the morbidity rate is significantly higher in regions where drug trafficking routes pass through. "Fifty-seven percent of HIV patients were infected through injections. As a rule, these are heroin addicts," the minister said.