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Officially Neglected



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Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference (EECAAC)
Moscow, October 28-30, 2009



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Russia is home to about 1.5 million people who inject drugs,



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its about 13% of the worlds total. 



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Russia consumes about one fifth of the worlds total supply of heroin.



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In the Russian federation 1 million people live with HIV



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most of them infected through the sharing of non sterile injecting equipment.



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Research shows that the only effective tools to stop the epidemic



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are harm reduction programs, like needle exchange and substitution treatment.



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According to Global Fund criteria Russia has developed sufficient wealth and GDP



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to no longer be eligible for funds supporting poor countries.



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This resulted in the closure of 22 needle exchange program in august 2009,



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after their Global fund grants run out.



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At the third Eastern Europe and Central Asia Conference in Moscow, on october 28-30,



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politicians, professionals and activists asked the government



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to keep up to its promise to maintain these life saving services.



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It came as a disappointment that the Russian government



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did not represent itself at the conference.



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One and a half year ago the government made a committment at this podium



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to provide funding from the national budget



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for all programs established by favour of the Global Fund s support.



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The aim was to continue these programs with the support of the government.



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We have been waiting for an answer for a very simple question



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for one and a half year: what will happen with us? 



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This is not about methadone, not even about harm reduction,



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but prevention programs for vulnerable groups



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such as women involved in commercial sex, men who have sex with men,



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young people and those other groups



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that are the driving force behind the epidemic. 



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We are already tired of writing letters every day 



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to the Ministry of Health, to Ms. Tatjana Aleksejevna Golikova.



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These letters have not only been signed by our organization,



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the AIDS Info Sviaz, but also by 200 other organizations



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that have to be closed down today.



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We hoped that we still have one and a half day



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while we can still get a clear answer.



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But it seems that at the moment



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prevention is not a priority in the Russian Federation. 



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Yesterday,



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the mayor of the city of Chelyablinsk deprived the Save Yourself Foundation,



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a program that has been working for 15 years, of its second office,



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and therefore from its legal status.



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 With this step the Save Yourself Foundation cease to exist. 



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 This is maybe only one organization in this country, a small one,



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but if they close 100, 120, 150 organizations, what will we do?



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I would like to address this question to Michel [Kazatchkin].



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We often turned to the Global Fund to talk about the situtation in Russia.



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Our own government does not want to help us, so at least you have to help us.



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After the third round of the Globus project ended, we lost many activists,



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people living with HIV, who worked in the region. We lost many services. 



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If now the fourth round of the Global Fund will end too,



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the government will not support these programs, judging from its recent policy,



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and the country will collapse.



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Frankly to say it shocks me that nobody is present here from the Ministry of Health.



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 Why do they not come here, why do they not listen to Mr. Kazatchkin,



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 why do they not listen to other professionals?



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This shows that they are afraid, they are afraid so much that



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they don t want to engage in a dialouge with experts.



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Concerning those harm reduction programs that use methadone,



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I would like to emphasize that Russia



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is completely against this element of prevention.



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First of all, the implementation of such programs



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contradicts the operative laws of our country.



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Second, according to our opinion, there are several other prevention programs



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in the national level which can effectively tackle this problem in the future.



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It does not mean that we just refuse to acknowledge this problem



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but we provide a solution to the problem.



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The effective resistance to stop the spread of this dangerous virus



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 can be only possible in Eastern-European and Central-Asian countries,



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if there is a working international cooperation,



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if prevention programs are scaled up, if access to medical treatment is increased



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and people living with HIV/AIDS receive social and health support.



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Only this can give us a chance to fight the epidemic.



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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin