New research reveals spike in HIV in Russia

Published 03 January 2013 20:13

New research has revealed an alarming spike in the number of HIV infections in Russia, with 200 people being diagnosed with the condition every day. Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of Russia's AIDS research centre, has said that instead of recognising a crisis - the government is indifferent to the problem. "If we had 200 cases of diarrhoea at a children's pioneer camp, the country's head sanitation doctor would fly out immediately to save them," Pokrovsky said. "It would be frightening. Governors would run, helicopters would fly, the police would search for the source of infection, prosecutors would get to work. "But here we are seeing that there is complete indifference to this situation." Al Jazeera's Robin Forestier-Walker reports from Moscow.