The number of HIV-positive patients registered in Russia has reached one million, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday, citing Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the Moscow-based Federal Center for Fighting AIDS.
However, according to experts' estimates, the number of HIV-positive people in Russia may be closer to 1.5 million, as the entire population has not been examined, Pokrovsky noted, according to Interfax.
It is expected that a total of 93,000 new HIV cases will have been registered in 2015, which is a historically high level, Pokrovsky said.
In an attempt to halt the HIV epidemic, Russia has doubled the amount of funding allocated to fight the disease.
Starting from this year, the amount of money allocated to fight HIV will exceed $600 million, the TASS news agency reported in October, citing Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova.
A total of 205,538 of HIV-infected people have died in Russia since 1987, when the first case of the HIV infection was registered, Pokrovsky told Interfax in November 2015.
