Summary
Russia loses 30,000 working-age citizens annually to HIV, with 1.7 million total infections and nearly 500,000 deaths to date.
The epidemic strains the economy as treatment costs reach $670 million annually, compounded by shortages of antiretroviral drugs and gaps in early testing.
Heterosexual transmission now dominates, though marginalized groups like drug users, sex workers, and gay men remain disproportionately affected.
Reduced funding for HIV testing and inconsistent treatment availability hinder efforts to curb the epidemic, posing critical public health and economic challenges for Russia.
Are they still in the HIV denial phase? That’s about 40 years behind. The rest of the world has a couple people cured and are close to a vaccine.
They stopped tracking HIV deaths a decade or two ago when it became apparent that the Russian government doesn’t fucking care, largely because they are thinking of it in a (hilariously ironic) Reagan-esque mentality of it being a “gay disease”. And the Russian government HATES gay people.