Russians fail HIV test – Kommersant

The awareness of Russians about HIV and AIDS has remained practically unchanged for the past five years: only four out of ten believe that they know a lot about the disease. This was shown by the All-Russian poll of VTsIOM, with the results of which Kommersant got acquainted. The worst-known people about the HIV problem are people with secondary or secondary specialized education, as well as active TV viewers. Epidemiologist Vadim Pokrovsky believes that this is due to the lack of a “clear information campaign” among the population, and this situation negatively affects the fight against the spread of the disease.

In April, VTsIOM conducted a telephone survey of Russians about their attitude to the problem of HIV infection. The researchers learned the opinion of 1.6 thousand people over 18 years old. It turned out that 41% of Russians, according to their own assessment, know “a lot” about the human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS. Another 54% admitted that they have a “superficial idea”, and 5% “do not know anything.” Over five years, these figures have remained virtually unchanged: in 2018, 39% of Russians knew “a lot” about HIV and AIDS, 58% “heard something”, and 3% “knew nothing”. In 2017, the figures were 37%, 59% and 4% respectively.

The authors of the study clarify that the difference of 2–4% is practically within the sampling error. This means that society has not become more aware of HIV in recent years. At the same time, for example, in 2004, almost half of Russians understood well what HIV was (47%).

According to the responses, a typical Russian who is fairly knowledgeable about HIV and AIDS is rather young (half are aged 18–34), has a higher or incomplete higher education (48% in this group), lives in one of the capitals (46%) or city ​​with a population of 100-500 thousand people (45%). He actively uses the Internet (51%). A typical Russian who has a superficial knowledge of HIV and AIDS is more likely to be over 60 years old (61% in this group), has a secondary (61%) or specialized secondary education (56%). He is an active TV viewer (56%) or prefers to watch TV on a par with using the Internet (58%). The percentage of those who know nothing about HIV and AIDS is higher among citizens with incomplete secondary education (21%), rural residents (10%) and active TV viewers (17%).

The study showed that Russians misjudge the extent of HIV prevalence in Russia. According to official data from the Ministry of Health, now more than 850 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation (0.56% of the population) live with this disease. Rospotrebnadzor talks about 1.1 million infected and about 400 thousand more citizens who do not know about the disease. However, every fourth respondent believes that the disease has affected from 1% to 5% of the population, another 17% named a figure of 5–10%, and one in five (21%) chose the option “more than 10%”.

Seven out of ten Russians surveyed say they have been tested for HIV (69%), including 23% less than a year ago. Another 22% indicated they were tested between one and three years ago; more than three years ago – 24% of respondents. As many as 27% of respondents, that is, one in four, have never taken an HIV test. The typical Russian who has never taken an HIV test is a man (31% versus 23% among women) aged 18–24 (43%) or over 60 (38%). He has an incomplete secondary or specialized secondary education (47% and 42%), he is a resident of a village (34%) and an active TV viewer (46%). And it is rather a woman (72% versus 65% among men) who is 25–59 years old (77–79%), with a higher education (77%) has the experience of testing.

Only 21% of Russians say that interacting with an HIV-infected person would not cause discomfort for them – these are two out of ten respondents. The remaining eight consider discrimination against people with HIV acceptable in one way or another. Most often, Russians are not ready to “let” people with HIV into their inner circle: 66% admitted that it would be uncomfortable for them to start a family and give birth to children with HIV. Every third person is not ready to buy products from an HIV-positive seller (34%); almost as many said they would feel uncomfortable if their child was in the same class or group with an HIV-infected person (30%). Other situations include caring for a relative with HIV (22%), working with an HIV-infected person (21%), and living next to an HIV-positive person in the stairwell (15%).

Russians aged 18–24 turned out to be the most tolerant. They were twice as likely as Russians as a whole to say that situations of interaction with HIV-positive people would not cause them discomfort—41% versus 21%. Among them, only 7% of them noted that they were not ready to care for a sick relative with HIV; this indicator among older Russians is almost four times higher – 27%.

Kirill Rodin, VTsIOM Director for Government Relations, notes that the study showed “a lot of distortions in views”: “It is important to achieve an adequate reflection of the situation around HIV and AIDS in public opinion. Because understanding the situation, firstly, is a guarantee of public health, and secondly, it allows not to stigmatize infected people.”

Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the specialized research department for AIDS epidemiology and prevention, calls these studies “a natural result of changed approaches to fighting HIV infection,” when the emphasis is on detection and treatment, rather than prevention. “There are serious differences in what information should be given to the population,” says Mr. Pokrovsky. “Representatives of the Ministry of Health believe that it is necessary to focus on loyalty to a sexual partner, or, in other words, on family values. From this side there are negative assessments of condoms as means of protection. As a result, the population receives less and less information.” According to him, the lack of a “clear information campaign” is one of the reasons for the worsening situation with the spread of HIV in Russia.

The Ministry of Health told Kommersant that the information policy of the department made it possible to maintain citizens’ awareness of HIV infection at the same level and even increase it, although “this topic was generally quite crowded out by other informational occasions, such as COVID-19.”

Natalya Kostarnova