Title: HIV and AIDS in the former Soviet Bloc.

POPLINE Document Number: 194669

Author(s):

Field MG

Source citation:

New England Journal of Medicine, 2004 Jul 8;351(2):117-120.

Abstract:

As compared with most nations affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS, the countries of the former Soviet Bloc encountered the disease rather late. The first public announcement of cases of HIV infection in the former Soviet Union came in the mid-1980s and was greeted with denial and derision: many believed that AIDS could not happen there and that it must therefore be limited to homosexuals, drug addicts, and other “deviants,” as well as black Africans and foreign tourists. Some believed that HIV was developed by the United States as part of the Cold War, to be “tested” on marginalized persons who led a disorderly sexual life. The epidemic may have taken a long time to reach this region because of the strict controls once placed on the movement of people and contacts with foreigners. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the barriers between its republics and the rest of the world tumbled down, facilitating the propagation of the virus. Today, this region has some of the fastest-growing rates of HIV infection in the world, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). (excerpt)

Keywords:

USSR
AIDS
HIV Infections
Sex Behavior
Needle Sharing
Reproductive Health
Epidemics
Mortality
Developing Countries
Viral Diseases
Diseases
Behavior
Risk Behavior
Health
Population Dynamics
Demographic Factors
Population