Russia will allocate an additional $300 million next year to fight the growing HIV epidemic in the country, TASS news agency reported Friday, citing Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova.
Taking this into account, the total amount of money that Russia will allocate annually to fight HIV will exceed $600 million from next year, Skvortsova said, according to TASS.
The additional funds will support non-profit organizations that work on the prevention and control of HIV, according to Skvortsova.
Last week, Skvortsova warned that without funding increases, Russia's HIV epidemic will spiral out of control, with the number of HIV-infected people expected to increase by 250 percent by 2020.
According to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the number of HIV carriers in Russia increases every year by 10 percent or 10,000 people, according to TASS.
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