Russia has one of the fastest-growing rates of HIV infection in the world. The foremost cause is the widespread use of heroin and the drug’s associated problems of shared needles and trading sex for drugs.
Addiction is more often approached as a crime than a disease to be treated. Making matters worse, methadone maintenance treatment – a well-reputed substitution therapy for opiate addiction around the world – is illegal in Russia. As a result, organizations that seek to treat heroin addicts must find creative ways to be effective. Funding for this work is limited, and in many parts of the country, authorities are not supportive of harm reduction approaches such as needle exchange programs or distributing condoms to sex workers.
