Some African prostitutes are said to have antibodies to the AIDS virus.It would seem that this fact is documented, on the basis of which the Amerhican scientists with redoubled enthusiasm began to work on the creation of the cherished vaccine and even outlined a specific date of its appearance - 2008.God willing, as they say.In the meantime, all countries without exception are shortening the time until this momentous event.Moreover, Russia is so short that the number of HIV-positive people arrives exponentially.
It is time to call what is happening in our country today a catastrophe.Whereas before 1996 the increase in infected people was a few hundred a year, in the last five years AIDS seems to have gone off the rails.In 2000, the disease hit a new 50,000 people, and in just three months this year, it added another 25,000.And we are talking only about registered cases, and this number, according to the most conservative estimates, is only one tenth of the real situation.
If no steps are taken, in the next 5-6 years the total number of infected Russians will amount to about three million people.The infestation will go on at a rate of 300,000 a year.The most dangerous regions are considered to be St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, as well as the Samara, Kemerovo, Perm, Ryazan, Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk and Ivanovo Regions.
Why do statistics so cold-bloodedly predict the infection of more and more segments of the population? Because practically nothing is being done in our country to prevent AIDS.It would take 70 million to do preventive work that would make a real difference.dollars.The federal budget allocates only 40 million for this purpose.rubles.Translated into dollars, this amount is equal to the annual cost of a small western hospital.
Basically, there is no money, the state is poor, or more likely, stingy.And the miser, as you know, pays twice.It costs ten thousand dollars a year to treat one patient.It is clear that the therapy used does not cure the disease, but only prolongs life for an indefinite, perhaps short, period of time.If you multiply the number of patients by ten thousand dollars, the amount is astronomical without exaggeration.
As of April 1 this year, 103024 infected Russians were registered.Of these, 1,362 were children.For the entire year 2000, twice as many people were diagnosed with the disease as in the previous thirteen years.
The main increase is given by the Moscow region - 14396 cases.Then come Moscow (10881), Irkutsk Oblast (8842), St. Petersburg (7582), Samara Oblast (4947), Sverdlovsk Oblast (4535), Orenburg Oblast (4286), Kaliningrad Oblast (3140).The infected population is predominantly male.Patients in their 20s and 30s make up 60 percent.
The eternal question: what to do? Wait for a vaccine? But Russia, as always, has its own nuances: it turns out that one type of virus is mostly spread on our territory.Ah, other countries have different types.That is, the long-awaited American vaccine is likely to be of little use to us.And then, is there any point in relying on a vaccine when by the time it is supposed to be created, there will already be 2.5 million infected people in Russia?
Today, this figure can still be influenced, as it is done in France, Germany, Canada and other prosperous countries.There are ongoing government programs aimed at combating AIDS, thanks to which the number of new cases has begun to decline markedly.
In 1996, the incidence rate was 0.6 people for every hundred thousand people, now the rate is 70.8.It is believed that prevention should be done first of all with children, because the middle generation, as a rule, is already lost.This applies not only to the fight against AIDS, but also against smoking, drug addiction and so on.But how can we do it if the main preventive component is the issue of sexuality education, and school teachers still blush at the mere mention of this slippery subject? There is only one thing left: parents, radio and newspapers.A few years ago, Newsweek magazine ran a special issue in which they put little pictures of all the Americans who had died of AIDS.And underneath the photos is a brief biography.It had an incredible effect.
Worldwide, 13 million people have already died of AIDS.According to Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the federal AIDS prevention center, we are not raising the alarm at the state level only because the bulk of infected Russians have not yet begun to die.In the last 13 years we have had 995 people officially die of AIDS, 119 of them children.
From infection to death takes an average of 12 years (in some cases the duration increases to 20 years, but this is the exception).Clinical symptoms of the disease appear in the eighth year.If we take into account that the main army of HIV-positive people began to form in 1996, we can expect sad sprouts by 2010, when the number of deaths will amount to 100 thousand.
