Euronews | Russia: HIV spreads beyond risk groups in 27 regions, epidemiologists say

Experts record the highest level of HIV and hepatitis infections in medical facilities in 15 years.

In 27 Russian regions, there is a generalised HIV epidemic. This was reported by the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor. Scientists use this term for the stage when HIV spreads in the general population rather than only among risk groups.

In these regions, HIV is diagnosed in more than 1% of pregnant women. The situation is most serious in the Kemerovo, Irkutsk and Sverdlovsk regions.

And although, according to the Central Research Institute for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, 45,000 new HIV cases were detected in Russia in 2025, which is 13.4% lower than in 2024, last year a record was set for the number of HIV and hepatitis infections in medical institutions, according to statistics compiled by the specialist portal Medvestnik.

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