Russia: PSI Prepares for Next Battle with HIV Epidemic

BALAKOVA, Russia, June 8, 2006 — Until recently, little or nothing has been done to prevent youth in Russia from starting to inject drugs — the single most important HIV and AIDS risk factor in Russia and Eastern Europe. UNAIDS believes that Russia may have well over three million people using injecting drugs. That this burgeoning population is driving a major AIDS epidemic in Russia, therefore, is no surprise.

PSI/Russia is now working on the design of a major intervention to reduce initiation of this high risk practice. The program will include four key components to change social norms regarding the use of injecting drugs. It will ensure that youth and other at-risk populations have access to accurate information about injecting drugs, enable parents to talk to their kids about the health risks of injecting drug use, and create constructive leisure time opportunities for high-risk youth from disadvantaged families.

As part of a recent design mission in April, the PSI/Russia team visited the city of Balakova — one of the epicenters of injecting drug use in Russia. Formerly a “closed city” during the Soviet era, this bleak industrial town is home to nuclear power plants and chemical factories. With few opportunities for any healthy recreation, youth fall into injecting drug use and other destructive practices with alarming frequency.

PSI/Russia has been dealing with the problem through the provision of education opportunities and with support from a crisis center for children of drug addicts and commercial sex workers.

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