He lived in heroin addiction 12 years old, but was able to understand what life is and tried to give up drugs. From that moment on, love and creativity became life for Vadim.
Pokrovsky returned to the group, which he had left for 2 years - together with the production team and comrades he recorded a new record. Work on it took 730 days. All these days, Vadim was between life and death: he could not afford to live under the supervision of doctors - he participated in recordings, interviews, went on tour, gave his best in the studio and on stage.
He couldn't stand it. He was only 36 years old.
Happy memory to Vadim.
About Vadim Pokrovsky and “Two Airplanes”
Since the third grade, Vadim Pokrovsky has been a fan of art rock, listened to the bands “Yes” and “King Crimson”, and was interested in world music, thanks to the ethnic excursions of David Byrne and Peter Gabriel. Belyankin was fond of punk rock. Besides British punk, " new wave" and ska in the spirit of Madness, Belyankin liked "Strange Games", St. Petersburg pioneers of the Jamaican style.
The idea of creating a joint group of his own awoke one fine day when Pokrovsky bought a rather exotic-looking Cuban folk music record from the Moskovsky department store.
Belyankin: “He calls me: “I bought such a record!” - “What, green? With a black man in a red shirt? It turned out that Belyankin bought himself the same one that day. All that night at Pokrovsky’s house the guys tried to reproduce Cuban rhythms. On this night in 1988, the group “Two Airplanes” was born.
“Two Airplanes” was the first in Russia to talk about ska music. Only the grayest didn’t dance to their hit “Bambula” performed by Vadim Pokrovsky, and only the most single didn’t remember the song “A friend gave me problems...”.
“Two Airplanes” revealed to the whole world an incomprehensible bird language, the language of Vadik Pokrovsky and the Swahili tribe - songs in this language were heard from the stage during the group’s numerous foreign tours.
Over 15 years, a lot has happened to the group: albums were recorded (even the “planes” themselves cannot say exactly how many of them the group has), musicians came and went, but Vadim always remained. Now it has become music.
V.V. Pokrovsky
Vadim Valentinovich Pokrovsky(born 1955) - a leading Russian scientist who devoted 20 years to his scientific activity problems of HIV infection. Since 1988, he has headed the Specialized Research Laboratory of AIDS Epidemiology of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Activities of Pokrovsky V.V. is dedicated to organizational and methodological work in the implementation of the state strategy to combat the HIV epidemic in the territory Russian Federation, and also scientific research in the field of epidemiology, clinics and prevention of HIV infection in Russia.
By order of the USSR Ministry of Health No. 239 (1989), he was included in the Committee to Combat AIDS under the USSR Ministry of Health.
By Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation No. 299/220, he was included in the Coordination Council for the implementation of the Federal Target Program for preventing the spread in the Russian Federation of the disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV infection) for 1996–1997 and for the period until 2000 “Anti-HIV/ AIDS".
With his participation, about 24 regulatory documents Ministry of Health on HIV infection (7 methodological recommendations, 6 rules and instructions, 11 orders). Took part in the preparation of " Federal Law on the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population" and the Federal Law on Preventing the Spread of HIV Infection in the Russian Federation.
In 2000, Pokrovsky V.V. was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the introduction of the domestic drug “Phosphazide” into medical practice for the treatment of HIV infection.
Pokrovsky V.V. takes an active part in the development of international relations, collaborates with the European Center for Epidemiology and AIDS Monitoring, was one of the leaders of the Canadian-Russian project “Russian Network to Combat HIV Infection”, collaborates with TACIS IMC on the project “Prevention and Control” with HIV/AIDS, Phase I”, with the International Labor Organization UNDP, with the UNICEF Children's Fund (UN). with the US Agency for International Development USAID, with the UK Department for International Development DIFID on the project “Comprehensive demonstration project for the prevention and control of HIV in target populations in the Russian Federation”, with Imperial College (London) on the program “Knowledge to combat HIV/AIDS in Russian Federation, with the World Bank - Russian Healthcare Foundation on the project “Prevention, diagnosis, treatment of tuberculosis and AIDS”.
In 2003, by order of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, a Problem Commission “HIV Infection” was created on the basis of the Center under the leadership of V.V. Pokrovsky.
He has published more than 300 scientific works, 2 monographs, 2 books and 4 teaching aids, trained 6 doctors and 15 candidates of science, is the author of 6 inventions. In the laboratory he directs, 9 test systems have been developed and put into practice for diagnosing diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B, C, D.
Rospotrebnadzor epidemic situation with the spread of HIV in Russia. According to official data, about 1% of Russians live with this disease, while 30% of those infected do not know about it. Earlier, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said that the HIV epidemic in our country could get out of control by 2020, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev admitted that in some regions of the country there are interruptions in the supply of medicines and test systems. Today, December 1, the world celebrates AIDS Day. The Village learned from the director of the Federal Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, Vadim Pokrovsky, why many Russians do not know about their diagnosis, how young girls ended up at risk, and for what reason in Russia it is not customary to talk about a condom as a method of protection.
How Russians become infected with HIV
You recently reported on the situation with the spread of HIV and reported that almost one million infected people have already been registered in Russia. In addition, according to your estimates, more than 20 thousand patients have died since the beginning of 2015 (this is almost 17% more than in the same period in 2014), and new cases of infection in the first ten months of this year were 12% more than for the same period in 2014. What is causing the worsening situation?
The situation with the spread of HIV is constantly deteriorating. It's just that now the number of registered cases is approaching a million, and this figure is impressive. When I said last year that there were already more than 900 thousand cases, it attracted little attention. But the situation is worsening progressively: 10% of HIV-infected people appear every year, 10% of 900 thousand is 90 thousand, of a million is already 100 thousand. The percentage remains the same, but the absolute numbers are growing.
This is due to the fact that the virus from drug users, who until recently were the main group of patients, passes into general group population. Women are especially at risk now. They do not know whether their sexual partner has taken drugs before, and they even become infected from their husband or regular friend.
- Almost a million HIV-infected people in Russia are just official statistics. How much higher could the actual data be?
In fact, 200 thousand sick people have already died, so about 750 thousand remain alive. About the same number, about 800 thousand, are not yet registered. They don't know they are infected and have never been tested.
- Why do people get infected? They just don't know that they need to protect themselves?
Yes, they are not aware. You’ve probably never published anything about HIV infection, isn’t your conscience tormenting you? When people see numbers - 900 thousand, a million - they do not think that they are also at risk, and do not associate this with their behavior. Many people do not know whether their partner has been tested for HIV infection or not, or whether he could have been infected in the past. Therefore, now our recommendations apply to everyone. For example, until you know your partner’s HIV status, use a condom, otherwise the risk of infection is very high. Every 40th man aged 30–35 years is infected with HIV. The likelihood that he will be your partner is very high.
- Do men, in turn, become infected because they are also not sufficiently aware, or more often due to drug use?
So far, men are more likely to become infected through drugs. But, of course, sexually transmitted infections are also possible. Now there are slightly fewer women among the sick. This suggests that the transmission route is working among drug addicts, and their percentage among those infected is increasing all the time. At the same time, in age group Under 25 years of age, there are even more infected women than men. This is due to the fact that often the male sexual partner is older than the woman. Older partners - 30-35 years old - infect 20-25 year olds, so at this age the sexual route of transmission clearly predominates.
Every fortieth man aged
30–35 years old infected with HIV. The probability that he will be your partner, very big
- But so far the most common way of contracting HIV in Russia is through drug use?
Statistics should not mislead you: 55% of new cases of infection occur through drug use, but the remaining 45% are sexually transmitted, that is, almost the same. Those who contract HIV through sexual contact are more difficult to identify. In the case of drugs, the risk factor is clear, and people usually are not examined after unprotected sex. They think: “What do I have to do with HIV infection?” In Europe, the transmission of HIV through drug use has now practically ceased, and the sexual route has become almost dominant. Adults are being discovered who were once infected during sex, but never thought they were at risk. Therefore, everyone is recommended to be tested for HIV.
- As a rule, in Russia people become infected with HIV through heterosexual contacts? There used to be a myth that HIV was a disease of homosexuals.
They remain the main risk group in Western Europe: homosexuals think that there is a cure, and therefore do not use protection. They now want to treat everyone: both those who are sick and those who are not yet sick. Treatment as prevention - give everyone antiretroviral drugs: take a pill in the morning and you can go all out. Our epidemic is of a generalized nature, and since there are not very many sexual minorities among the entire population, there are also few of them among HIV-infected people - 1–2%. By the way, the infection is not transmitted during female homosexual contacts, so lesbians can rest easy.
- What country can Russia be compared to in terms of the spread of HIV?
The Russian scenario is closer to that of Spain and Italy 20 years ago, and is already gravitating towards the African one, where the main route of transmission is heterosexual sexual contact. We have surpassed all European countries, where in total there are approximately the same number of HIV-infected people as we have. That is, if we classify our country as a European power, then half of all sick people in Europe live with us. We have also surpassed the United States, which has traditionally been considered a very vulnerable territory. There are about the same number of living HIV-infected people there as we have, but they register 50 thousand new cases a year, while we have about 100 thousand, and the population there is more than twice ours. Although there are still more deaths in the United States: about 600 thousand people have died from AIDS, in Russia - 200 thousand, so we still have a long way to go. If treatment is organized as poorly as it is now, we can catch up with this indicator: out of 800 thousand HIV-infected people in Russia, only 200 thousand receive appropriate treatment.
- Why?
Because little attention is paid to this problem, and for the last five years funding has not increased, but the number of patients has grown.
- So in Russia there is simply no money to treat everyone?
Well, yes, this is not provided for funding. The government is hinting that it will double funding in 2016. We haven’t seen this money yet, but there is a promise.
- How much money does the state give now to solve this problem?
Currently, about 18 billion rubles a year are allocated to fight HIV. In 2016, they promise to increase this amount by another 20 billion, that is, if the promise is kept, we will have about 40 billion rubles.
- How much is needed, according to your estimates?
To turn the situation around, it will take more than 100 billion rubles.
- Will this money primarily go towards treatment?
It's a difficult question. In my opinion, more needs to be spent on informing and educating the population so that people do not become infected. Treatment is always worse than prevention. But now the world is dominated by the concept of “Treatment as Prevention”: this concept is that if all HIV-infected people are given a medicine and they constantly take it, then those who are sick will have a very low level of the virus and even their genitals will not become infected from them partners. In my opinion, this is a very controversial approach, because we must first identify everyone who is infected and provide them with medicines, but we are still very far from this. In Russia, we must simultaneously deal with preventing new cases and treating patients: we cannot focus on any one approach.
About why in Russia they treat patients when it’s too late
We recently published a story about an HIV-infected person, here’s what he said: “If in Europe they start dispensing medications for prevention when the immune status is 500 T-lymphocytes per milliliter of blood (there are 1200 T-lymphocytes in a milliliter of blood from a healthy person. - Ed.), then in Moscow they start dispensing medications at status 350, when you are already full of secondary diseases, and your immune system cannot resist anything at all. To be treated in Moscow, you must already be very sick - at the stage when HIV turns into AIDS.” Is that so?
Everything is correct, because for now there is only enough money for this. And this is one of the reasons why mortality is rising: treatment is started too late. They say: “Wait, you still have 360 cells, when there are 350, we’ll start treating.” The patient comes a year later, and he already has 200 T-lymphocytes - this is equivalent to AIDS.
- What medications do patients receive in Russia?
These are drugs that were developed a long time ago and their license has expired. They are made in India and Russia, these are the so-called generics - they are much cheaper than the original drugs. There is analgin for 10 rubles, and there is for 100. These are not bad medicines, but, of course, all the new ones are better. For example, if you use a modern drug, you need to take one tablet a day, and if you use an old one, then you have to take 12 tablets a day. This is a significant difference for both the patient and the state, because the Russian version costs ten times less.
- That is, in recent years, treatment methods have changed and we are only talking about money?
Well of course! If you take good medications, even with HIV you can live to a ripe old age and die of cancer or a heart attack. Young people die from HIV, so the state’s task is, firstly, to ensure that they do not become infected, and secondly, if infected, to provide them with treatment so that they do not die young. The main problem of HIV infection for us is the decrease in the working-age population.
- Recently it was reported about the development of certain Russian vaccines against HIV. What do you feel about it?
It is very difficult to develop a vaccine against HIV: there is no natural immunity after an infection, because no one has yet recovered. For example, if a person is cured of smallpox, he will never get sick again, so it turned out to be easy to create a vaccine against it. It is quite possible that a vaccine against HIV will never be invented. It has been developed for syphilis and malaria for a hundred years, and nothing works.
- At the same time, there are drugs that can maintain a normal quality of life and allow a person not even to infect his partner?
Quality of life is a controversial issue, because all drugs have side effects. That's why I say: it's better not to get infected. People with HIV on antiretroviral therapy, and even without it, age ten years faster: they often look like old people. This suggests that drugs do not kill HIV - it continues its destructive work, inflammatory processes occur, which lead to premature aging.
On the role of the state in the HIV epidemic
- Do you blame the media for the lack of awareness among Russians about HIV infection?
Responsibility for this lies with everyone, including the media, but to a large extent with our government, which pays little attention to this problem. Rules traffic We change it every day, it’s relevant, everyone is discussing it. But the problem of HIV infection is not. Although we have as many people dying from HIV as in road accidents.
- Recently, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered to accelerate the development of a state strategy to combat the spread of HIV. Are you involved in its development?
Involved as the main critic. There is no strategy as such; they still can’t understand what to focus on: prevention or treatment. We now have very strong conservative approaches, there is even such an opinion: “We should ban having sex.” And the population says: “Yes, yes, we are Orthodox,” but they do not know that Orthodox Christians can only have sex with their wife and only 2.5 days a week, if there is no fasting, and everything else is a sin. In reality, it will be very difficult to accustom our population to conservative principles, which is why HIV is spreading. I believe that people should be offered variety: if you want, use the Orthodox concept, and if you don’t like it, we recommend using a condom.
But the most big problem- This is prevention among drug users. We think that they can be cured and thus interrupt the transmission of HIV through drug use. Abroad, another approach is the so-called replacement therapy. Those who inject drugs are offered to take them orally: in medical institutions they give out the same opioids in syrup form, so that later there is no need to inject. In Spain, Italy and France, the therapy is believed to have resulted in HIV no longer being transmitted through drug use. Our colleagues say: “This does not cure drug addiction!” We object: “This prevents the spread of HIV!” For now, the prevailing opinion is that of those who hope to cure all drug addicts. 15 years have already passed since they promised this, but the number of drug users has not decreased.
It is believed that a condom gives indulgence for immoral behavior. It's worse when they spread the data that condoms do not protect against HIV
- Do you have an explanation why the Russian authorities pay so little attention to this problem?
This is apparently due to the fact that we have an attitude towards HIV as a disease of homosexuals. For some reason, the fact that in developing countries the disease is spread through sexual contact among the heterosexual population is ignored. You talk to State Duma deputies, and you get the feeling that they know nothing about this problem. Everyone still thinks that homosexuals are the main risk group.
- Why is the use of condoms not promoted in Russia as one of the mechanisms of protection against HIV?
It is believed that a condom gives indulgence to immoral behavior. It’s worse when they spread data that condoms do not protect against HIV. Then the “immoral behavior” is carried out without a condom.
- In Russia, many people generally believe that HIV does not exist.
- Or from bad behavior.
It is believed that some other factors played a role, but for some reason all the dead had HIV infection. Now they say that HIV and AIDS are not related, but this is data from the 80s. Since that time, science has advanced so much that there is no doubt about the connection between these phenomena.
- Recently, the Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova said that by 2020 the HIV epidemic in Russia could get out of control. What do you think of this forecast?
In my opinion, the epidemic has long been out of control.
photos: Yasya Vogelgardt
By the end of January, a million HIV-infected people were officially registered in Russia. Doctors say that at least 500 thousand people simply do not know that they are also affected by the virus. Disease is no longer considered the preserve of marginalized people. HIV has spread beyond the so-called risk groups, and now even those who do not use drugs and remain faithful to their sexual partners can get it. Is it possible to defeat AIDS by fighting for morality, or is it time to legalize prostitution? How effective are the medications and is there a high chance of catching the virus in the hospital? The head of the Federal Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Vadim Pokrovsky answered these and other questions to Lenta.ru.
“Lenta.ru”: Is it true that Russia has overtaken European countries in the number of HIV-infected people?
Yes. The percentage of people infected in our country is three times higher than in the European Union. Twice as much as in France, and ten times as much as in Germany.
Photo: Mikhail Voskresensky / RIA Novosti
Good pace, considering that we started later?
In Russia, the HIV problem was seriously addressed until about 2011. And then funding stopped, and there was barely enough money to treat only a small part of HIV-positive people. As a result, over the past five years the number of infected people has almost doubled. Today, depending on the region, every twentieth man aged 21-40 is infected. Just now they perked up. Apparently, the magic figure of a million infected people frightened us. This year it is planned to double budget spending on HIV/AIDS - up to 41 billion rubles.
Is it just a question of funding?
Alas, no. Someone decided that it was enough simply to strengthen morality, to lead healthy image life, and everything will pass on its own. But they did not go into details, for example, what a “healthy lifestyle” is for a 30-year-old unmarried man. It is in this group that sexual activity is considered a sign of health. Or what kind of morality can a drug addict have, who is only concerned about where to get a dose?
Is it true that HIV has moved beyond risk groups and is now available to everyone, like the flu?
The only difference is that you can recover from the flu, but not yet from AIDS. But the disease has indeed ceased to concentrate in any one group and is spreading to wider layers. Now about 20 percent of drug addicts and about 10 percent of homosexual men have HIV. The spread of infection among them did not cause much concern among “decent” people. They say they will die, less problems. But drug addicts are sexually active. And quite intense. At the end of last year, up to 95 thousand new cases of HIV infection were registered. And only half of them are associated with drug use, the rest were infected through sexual intercourse through heterosexual relationships. Only one and a half percent are homosexuals.
Photo: Evgeny Asmolov / Interpress / TASS
Where are the most infected people?
Where money circulated in the 90s, where large enterprises operated successfully. In such regions, drug dealers were more active: Irkutsk, Yekaterinburg, Samara. Tolyatti with its automobile plant was very profitable. Now up to three percent of the population is infected there - one of the most high levels infections in the country. There are “hot spots” in the Urals, Siberia, the Volga region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region.
Do the leaders of these regions know about HIV?
Many only heard unpleasant news last fall at a meeting with Dmitry Medvedev. This is due to the mentality of officials. Going from bottom to top through their reports, the situation should improve. In order not to upset managers, they are informed mainly in a positive way.
There is also the opposite effect. Tomsk had good prevention programs and was constantly being held up as an example. But since there was no infection, this work was stopped. As a result, about two years ago there was a major outbreak of HIV infection there.
Is Moscow not on the “black” list? There was always a lot of money here.
We don't know exactly what's happening in the capital. We maintain a personalized database that includes complete information about each patient to avoid repetition and more accurately calculate costs. But Moscow has not provided us with such data for three years now. Apparently, the collection of information in the city is poorly organized.
Do city officials claim that the city has managed to stabilize the number of HIV-infected people?
According to monitoring data from Rospotrebnadzor, 4,800 new HIV-infected Muscovites were identified in 2013, and another 5,200 in 2014. That is, the number is increasing. In comparison, the whole of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) in 2014, 6150 patients were detected. By the end of last year, 52,700 HIV-positive citizens were registered in Moscow. Many of them arrive at the hospital already in extreme distress. in serious condition. And besides Muscovites, up to 50 thousand non-resident HIV-positive people were registered in the city. And most of them probably never left. Therefore, I personally consider the situation with HIV in Moscow to be explosive.
Can all infected people receive free medicine?
The main indicator is the number of lymphocytes in the blood with the CD4 marker. According to the recommendations in force in our country, treatment begins at a level of less than 350 cells. But now, due to a shortage of funds, therapy is prescribed when there are about 200 CD4 lymphocytes. That is, when an HIV-infected person has a direct threat of developing AIDS.
Is it different in the West?
This is now the most fashionable theory in the world - to identify all infected people and treat them from the moment of infection. After all, those who receive proper treatment are practically not contagious to sexual partners. The offer is good. But in practice it is difficult to implement.
No money?
It's not just about money. It is necessary that the entire population be examined, and this is not easy. After all, you can’t raid people without a certificate. And young, strong people rarely turn to doctors because they think that they are not at risk. The next question is: how to keep everyone on treatment for the rest of their lives, that is, decades? If they take medications poorly, the virus will develop resistance to them. But the most main problem for Russia - what to do with drug users? They make up up to 60 percent of all infected people.
You have been talking about the need for replacement therapy for a long time, but many consider this almost propaganda for drug addiction.
Replacement therapy is approved by WHO and is used everywhere, including such tough countries as China and Belarus. For us, it is interesting because it reduces the transmission of HIV. If the drug is taken orally and not injected, then it does not play any role in the transmission of the virus. In Spain, Italy and France, this technique is believed to have resulted in HIV no longer being transmitted through drug use.
Does the Ministry of Health have its own alternatives to replacement therapy?
Narcologists develop their own, as they say, creative methods addiction treatment. So far, after such a course, only 50 percent remain drug-free for a year, and very few remain drug-free for five years. The Federal Drug Control Service proposes to create a network of camps similar to the labor treatment centers that existed in the USSR. But we are talking about coercion, which reduces efficiency. According to Federal Drug Control Service estimates, there are at least 1.5 million heroin users alone. How to look for them? Substitution therapy can provide greater coverage, since they themselves will come for free drugs.
But the main obstacle to substitution therapy is not moral fighters at all, but the heroin mafia. This will hurt their market.
Did the crisis and import substitution somehow affect HIV-infected people?
But what? Since 2011, the budget for therapy has not increased, but the number of people receiving treatment has almost quadrupled. The transition to cheaper drugs - generics from India, Southeast Asian countries and those produced in Russia - is also having an impact.
In France and Switzerland, where only original drugs are used, treatment costs 5-7 thousand euros per year. Our cheapest scheme now costs 20 thousand rubles, the average - 80-90 thousand.
Photo: Gennady Gulyaev / Kommersant
Are the substituted tablets worse in quality than the originals?
They suppress the virus. But direct comparisons with the originals regarding the frequency of side effects have not been carried out. In addition, combination medications are widely used abroad - several active ingredients in one pill. A person swallows only one tablet a day. But our patients have to take ten, because the combined ones are expensive.
And the medications also need to be changed. The fact is that HIV gradually gets used to the drugs. We need to look for a replacement for them. And this requires a wide choice. But providing diversity is, again, expensive.
The national strategy to combat AIDS will be presented in March. Will there be anything there that hasn't been offered before?
For us, not only replacement therapy, even prevention among sex workers will be a non-standard approach. According to the police, we have about a million prostitutes. And for their business to be profitable, at least 10 million people must use their services. Many prostitutes use drugs and offer sex without a condom for an additional fee. They themselves risk becoming infected and can infect their clients. It is necessary to educate them for the public good.
Oh! So we are not far from legalizing prostitution.
Optional. In many countries, prostitution is formally prohibited, but programs to train prostitutes are intensive. Legalization is another level. In Germany, for example, to engage in this business, you need to obtain a license, pay taxes, and follow the rules. In particular, be sure to use condoms. In Germany there are generally a lot of rational decisions. Let's say, such an everyday question is the sexual needs of disabled people. This is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. The Germans pay them for the services of sex workers. But in our country, a healthy lifestyle is represented in a completely different way: fasting and sports.
Photo: Sergey Kulikov / Interpress / TASS
Previously, condoms were advertised as the main means of combating the spread of infections, not just HIV. Why did you stop?
The condom does not fit into the concept of morality. He gives indulgence for extramarital sex. But I strongly recommend: until you know your partner’s status, be sure to use a condom. If you want to continue the relationship, get examined together. After all, it is believed that we have many sexual partners, which means having three at the same time. But when it’s just the two of us, it seems harmless. They will live with one for three years, with another for five years, and by the age of 40 there have been a dozen monogamous relationships. If one person with HIV gets into this chain, then all subsequent partners are at risk of infection.
State Duma deputies propose not to accept applications at the registry office without a certificate of HIV status. Will it help?
I'm afraid there will be fewer weddings. Young people already believe that it is not necessary to formalize a relationship. And here are new bureaucratic obstacles. Dragging somewhere to donate blood? Or buy a HIV-free certificate? On the Internet they ask for 3200 rubles with delivery.
By the way, about analyses. How likely is it to become infected in a medical facility?
Over the past five years, we have data on more than ten cases of hospital-acquired infections. I am not naming regions, since these incidents are possible everywhere. We are talking about the repeated use of syringes and other medical equipment that must be sterilized before use. All detected cases are associated with children, but we do not exclude that adults could also become infected. It's just easier to rule out sexual transmission in children. A major outbreak of nosocomial infection occurred in 1988 in Elista. After this, security measures in medical institutions were strengthened. But the doctors of the old school have changed, there is no alertness, and the number of HIV-infected people has increased hundreds of times. And if now the medical staff starts skimping on safety or just being lazy, we’ll get a new outbreak.