I. Khalfiev: “HIV prevention in Kazan is giving results”

(KZN.RU, December 3, Alena Miroshnichenko). The number of HIV-infected among young people has decreased in Kazan. This suggests that the propaganda directed specifically at this category of citizens works, marked Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, today at the Business Monday.

Ilnur Khalfiev, the head of the Health Department of the Ministry of Health of the RT for Kazan, reported on the level of HIV infection and its prevention in the capital of Tatarstan at the staff meeting. According to the Republican AIDS Center, since 1987, when the first case of infection was detected in the republic, more than 22000 HIV-infected people have registered, of which about 40% live in Kazan. The age category of 30-39 years (1123 people) and 40-49 years (522 people) prevails among HIV-infected registered. At the same time, the indicator of tension in the city exceeds the national average. As the speaker noted, it is important to pay attention to the internal migration of the HIV-infected population of the neighboring republics to the territory of Kazan. It is 2.2 times higher than last year.

“In 2017, there was a decrease in the incidence of HIV infection by 18% in Kazan. This year, during the preventive campaigns, rapid testing covered 1769 people, 2 positive results were revealed”, said I. Khalfiev. Among the actions of the event, which annually holds the Ministry of Health of Russia: “Stop HIV/AIDS”, “HIV Test: Expedition”, All-Russian Testing Day. On December 1, Kazan joined the AIDS Day, which has been celebrated for 30 years. This year, the All-Russian campaign “Stop HIV/AIDS” was held under the slogan “Know Your Status”. In addition, for five years, large-scale preventive work has been organized within the framework of international sports competitions, where the attention of young people, athletes, media personalities, government officials, and the general public is drawn to HIV infection, which contributes to an increase in motivation for testing.

“The preventive measures taken are giving results. The data of the sociological screening conducted on HIV infection showed that the level of awareness of the population aged 18 to 49 has increased from 84% to 87% in the current year. Lifestyle is one of the main factors in maintaining health. Therefore, preventive measures are important at all levels, including at the level of managers”, marked I. Khalfiev.

“Of course, we should not be deluded by a relatively stable situation. In general, the situation in the republic is under control and is better than in other regions. I am glad that the number of HIV-infected among young people has significantly decreased. This means that the propaganda that was directed specifically at them works. Therefore, the work must be continued and moved in this direction. There is a program for the prevention of HIV infection in the republic. I urge to treat it not as another document, but to rethink it. We need to discuss work with doctors and find new forms of work and solutions”, Ilsur Metshin summed up the discussion.

The spread of HIV infection is recognized as one of the main threats to national security in the field of public health in the national security strategy of the Russian Federation until 2020, and remains one of the main problems of global public health.

There are more than 43 million people living with HIV in the world. Up to 2 million new cases are registered annually. Today, more than 60% of patients in the dispensary register receive antiretroviral drugs that allow them to control the course of the disease. The cost of such a lifelong treatment on average is 70 thousand rubles per year for one infected.