Subject: re open letter on HIV/AIDS threat
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2005
From: "Alec Khachatrian" <akhachatrian@tpaa.net>
Dear Mr. Johnson,
Greetings from TPAA President John Tedstrom!
You will find attached for consideration for inclusion in your list a recent open letter to President V. Putin, as well as an accompanying press release. The letter was prepared and signed by several key representatives of various sectors of the Russian society, including policymakers, business and media leaders, TV personalities and NGOs (listed in the press release), with technical support from TPAA.
I'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Yours truly,
Alec Khachatrian
Director of Programs, Russian Federation
Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS
Gazetny pereulok 5, 3d floor
125993 Moscow Russian Federation
Tel (7 095) 510 5370
Fax (7 095) 510 5371
akhachatrian@tpaa.net
www.tpaa.net
----------
To the President of the Russian Federation
V. V. Putin
June 30, 2005
Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,
We, politicians, representatives of science, culture, business, media, and public organizations, recognizing that HIV/AIDS poses a serious threat to national security, to social and economic welfare of Russia, regard it as our duty to draw attention of the country's top authorities to the necessity of immediate action and political will in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
At the moment, according to the official data there are about 320.000 people living with HIV/AIDS in our country. According to expert estimates, the real number of HIV-positive Russians is much higher - more than one million people. More than 70 percent of the officially registered cases make young people at the age of 15 to 39, i.e. the most active part of the country's population in terms of economic and reproductive capacity. While previously, transmission of the virus via blood during intravenous drug use was the main way of the HIV-infection spread, in the recent years there has been a tendency towards the increase of sexual transmission of the virus, which puts general population under a threat.
In view of the gravity of the current situation, we ask you to take the following urgent measures:
1. Create at the highest political level an interdepartmental committee (council) on HIV/AIDS, which would be empowered to define the national strategy with the participation of all sectors of the Russian society.
2. Work out national strategy on HIV/AIDS taking into account the need for prevention, treatment, care and support for people living with HIV, as well as observance of their civil rights.
3. Broaden international collaboration in the fight against HIV-infection, first of all within the framework of Russia's partnerships with USA, UK, China, India and other countries, as well as within the framework of G8 summits, in particular the 2006 Summit, which will be presided by you.
More than once, Russia has proved its ability to successfully accomplish projects of international significance. Space exploration is a vivid corroboration for that. Significant achievements in this area only became feasible owing to the fact that the leaders of the country, realizing the complex nature of the problem, had clearly outlined priorities, allotted appropriate resources and set going effective mechanism to address the issue. It is only possible to successfully withstand the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a problem of global scale by combining efforts of the international community. Our common aspiration for the HIV/AIDS problem solution is concern for the future of our children, for the security and prosperity of our country.
---------
Russian politicians, representatives of business, science, culture and public organizations sign a joint letter to Vladimir Putin on the problem of HIV/AIDS
On June 30, 2005 a number of Russian politicians, representatives of business, science, culture and public organizations signed an open letter to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, which contained an appeal to pay attention of the country's leadership to the need for immediate action and political will to resist the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The authors of the letter suggest establishing a high level committee on HIV/AIDS, developing a national strategy to fight the epidemic, and broadening international collaboration in this area within the framework of G8 summits, particularly the 2006 Summit, which will be presided by Russia.
The letter was signed by: Dr. E. Voronin, Head Physician at the Republican Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases (St.Petersburg); V. Golovnev, Co-chair of the Russian public organization Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia); S. Goryacheva, deputy of the Russian State Duma; A. Dybal, Chair of the Board of Directors of Gasprom-Media; V. Zubov, deputy of the Russian State Duma; A. Makarevich, leader of the Mashina Vremeni rock group; V. Pozner, author and presenter at Channel One of the Russian TV; Acad. V. Pokrovsky, Head of the Russian Federal AIDS Center; A. Rodnyansky, President of the CTC-Media Holding; M. Rukavishnikov, Director for Development and External Relations at the regional public organization Community of people living with AIDS; V. Ryzhkov, deputy of the Russian State Duma; V. Solovyev, radio and TV presenter; O. Sysuyev, First Deputy Chair of the Board of Directors at Alfa Bank; A. Shokhin, Head of the Coordination Council for Industrialists Unions of Russia.
At the moment, according to the official data there are about 320.000 Russians living with HIV/AIDS. According to expert estimates, the real number of HIV-positive Russians is more than one million - mainly young people at the age of 15 to 39. Although the majority of the people living with HIV in Russia were infected through injecting drug use, in recent years the number of number of cases of sexual transmission has increased, involving people outside the so called 'vulnerable groups', which poses a great threat for Russia's population.
Additional information:
Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS
Alec Khachatrian, Director of Programs in the Russian Federation, TPAA
akhachatrian@tpaa.net
Natalya Rostovtseva, TPAA Program Assistant
nrostovtseva@tpaa.net
Address: 5, Gazetny Pereulok, 3rd Floor, 123001 Moscow, Russian Federation
Phone: +7 (095) 510-5370
Fax: +7 (095) 510-5371
Internet: www.tpaa.ru.