HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Russia Overview

Abstract

An epidemic, also known as a pandemic refers to a situation where new victims of a disease or infection occur in a specific human population at a given time. This is always devastating and is above the expected rate as indicated by statistics of the previous cases witnessed. A health initiative is an undertaking by the government or non-governmental organization of a country to fight a given epidemic. It aims at eradicating the danger of a country’s population being wiped out by the plague (Beyrer, & World Bank, 2011).

HIV/AIDS is a viral infection that destroys the white blood cells in humans thus rendering the body defenseless against infections. It is acquired through many ways such as; unprotected sex and blood transfusion with infected blood. The scope of a population affected by a given disaster refers to the distribution of the epidemic throughout the entire population. That is; the rate at which children, women, men, the aged and the young adults are affected as supported by statistical data.

Key words

• Epidemic
• Health initiative
• HIV/AIDS
• Population scope

Introduction

HIV/AIDS is becoming a huge concern in Russia as far as health matters are concerned. Health standards among Russian citizens has become wanting since the end of communism. There are other diseases that have threatened the lives of Russian citizens with cardiovascular infections topping the list. However, HIV/AIDS is a huge health concern and statistics shows that Russia and Ukraine contribute a devastating ninety percent of all new HIV/AIDS infections in the entire Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Vinokur, 2001).

Russia being the world’s largest country has a huge population of approximately 143,000 people. The rate of HIV/AIDS infection has risen up to about two hundred and fifty percent in Russia, central Asia and Eastern Europe. For this reason, these countries are the world’s largest sufferers of this epidemic and the rate at which HIV/AIDS epidemic expands is highest in these regions of the world (Beck, Mays, Whiteside, & Zuniga, 2006).

According to a research carried out in the year 2011, up to 980,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS out of which only an approximated 76,000 receive the necessary treatments. It astonishes that Russia which is twice as large as the United States has a population that is only half that of United States with its birth rate being lower than death rate. Research shows that the population growth rate in males is actually negative with HIV/AIDS being third in terms of the diseases that contribute to the deaths of this group. This problem has been contributed by the fact that most males indulge themselves in drug abuse and unprotected sexual behaviors. Russian population is facing a threat of extinction due the fact that eighty percent of the victims if this plague are under the age of thirty years (Vinokur, 2001).

The other groups that are heavily affected include youths, prisoners, homosexual males and children. This rapid growth of infections is linked with social and economic crises that developed after dissociation of soviet union back in 1990s leading to increased drug trafficking supported by the fact that Afghanistan was the highest opium producer, the source of heroine. Women at the age of 15-25 years are twice as vulnerable to infections as men of the same age. Prostitutes are even more vulnerable than any other victims due to unsafe sexual practices and men who take drugs through injection (Vinokur, 2001).

An undertaking to improve health sector in Russia was initiated in the year 2006 when the Russian government launched a project plan aimed at carrying out this particular assignment. The project was meant to raise the life standards and quality, boosting security of the nation and working towards achieving economic growth. This project was funded with about three billion dollars to motivate doctors and nurses and to upgrade the standards of their clinics as a way of trying to curb this epidemic. This has worked effectively since the number of victims receiving related treatment has greatly increased. However, the effectiveness is not to full capacity and the population of victims is still increasing calling for more effort and new techniques if this problem is to be fully eradicated (Beyrer, & World Bank, 2011).

Development of new initiatives

The problem of rapid growth of new cases of HIV/AIDS is a threat not only to Russia, Eastern Europe Central Asia and Ukraine but also the world at large. Therefore, there is a need to have advanced and more effective practices to fight the epidemic (Beck, Mays, Whiteside, & Zuniga, 2006).

Nursing as a profession has played a great role in controlling this problem. The main service offered by the nurses is to take care of the victims. Caring for people already infected with HIV/AIDS plays a very important role in controlling this problem. The NYSNA council of nursing that regulates their practices and ethical behavior has collaborated with several other bodies to carry out research and come up with specific roles of nurses in this pandemic. The result has been fruitful since the earlier notion of keeping of the victims leading to segregation and lack treatment and proper care have been eliminated. The American Nurse Association code of ethics should be strictly followed by nurses in Russia and other parts of the world to ensure efficient control of this plague.

Nursing has the responsibility of reviving health, preventing sicknesses and suffering encountered by patients of any nature. Nurses do appreciate all patients irrespective of the deformities, diseases they have, the way they acquired them and their uniqueness. This is very important since it enable nurses to work professionally without discriminating patients on basis of what they are. For example if a nurse despises a patient having a certain infection, say AIDS with the mentality that the patient acquire the infection in an evil manner then the patient is at risk of not getting the necessary services he or she require from the nurse.

Controlling HIV/AIDS is not only about prevention and cure but also about taking care of the already infected patients to ensure that they don’t die prematurely. This is also important to ensure that the victims don’t spread the infections anyhow. This is why nurses are very important here. It is their obligations to diagnose and treat citizens against actual or possible infections. By diagnosing patients and testing them for the presence of these infections, nurses ensure that the every person’s status as far as diseases are concerned is known.

Once the status of every person is known, the government through the health sector has an easy time in making health related plans and budgets. The nurses also provide guidance and counseling to patients and their families. The advice offered include drug usage which ensures that patients do not find themselves in danger due to improper or insufficient use of the medicines they are provided with. It also involves providing them with diet related advice which helps them to consume foods that are healthy and life boosting. Counseling is still a very important service offered by nurses since it helps control the behaviors of infected patients thereby preventing the rapid spread due to ignorance.

The Russian government should emphasize this code of ethics for their nurses and provide them with the necessary motivation to help them achieve this. They should also be offered advanced training regarding their role in controlling this plague. Since Russian population is large, more nurses should be employed and properly trained for the purpose of controlling this problem. The nurses’ code of ethics also forbids anyone in the profession from abandoning a patient. This has been a simple but rather effective weapon in making nurses handle their patients with much care and precaution as their own property. Carrying out voluntary confidential testing has attracted many patients to present themselves for testing in order to know their status. Nurses operate in accordance with the put in place by the law hence what is needed for the war against HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Every single patient has the right to medical services but the nursing council’s code of ethics requires that first priority be given to the most affected group. This should be adopted in affected areas such as Russia to create urgency in handling delicate victims. Nurses association should be actively involved research to find out ways in which professional medical attention can be offered to patients. They then equip the professional nurses with such knowledge to facilitate their work. Professional nurses are always committed attending to their patients and may have very little or no time for carrying out research on new treatment methods. This is where the associations become important. They perform innovation to obtain improved forms of the methods currently in use as well as the invention of new methods.

Recommendations

• The Russian government should form nursing association similar to NYSNA in the United States to ensure that nurses work in groups under common parameters of operations. It should then collaborate in very close relations with this association to achieve the common goal of eradicating the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
• Codes of ethics should be similar to those of nursing association in the United States should be formed to control the operations of nurses and any other medical practitioners.
• The country should exploit the economic advantage it is enjoying to handle its health related problems. Russia has a very strong economy and the excess revenue should be invested in the health sector.
• Social justice should be practiced but controlled to ensure that the country does not suffer from its adverse effects. Spiritual guidance should be increased to control the moral behaviors of the citizens. Cultural behaviors that are associated with moral decay should be avoided as they are potential causes of increased spread of these infections.
• Russia has many people of different qualifications in different fields. There should be human diversity. Everybody should take part in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The fight should not be left only to medical practitioners but spread through every citizen.
• The resources of the country should be fairly allocated to ensure that every part of the country receives an even share of its wealth. This could reduce predisposing factors such as drug trafficking and hence drug abuse.
• Russia is one of the most developed countries with advanced technology; the government should take advantage of this fact. High level research should be started in the medical sector aimed at finding cures or control of HIV/AIDS.

Challenges

The above mentioned recommendations are faced with several challenges which include the fact that researches involving virus related diseases are usually expensive and take long and this would mean taking more time and resources on research than handling the patients. This can be solved by diversification of operations and involving more people.

Russia’s large population would require a massive number of nurses and medical practitioners in which may not be available. Not every professional in the country is a nurse and it would not be practical to force more people into nursing. The government could encourage more people into the nursing profession by guaranteeing jobs and huge pay to attract more people.

It is not easy to control the behaviors of such a large population. Thus, maintaining the required standards of behavior would demand a many law enforcers in all parts of the country which is practically impossible. Moral education should be offered through the media and training centers all over the country to ensure a morally upright society (Institute of Medicine (USA) & National Academies Press (USA), 2007).

The Russian government may find it difficult to declare HIV/AIDS a national disaster as this may lead to neighboring countries cautioning their citizens against visiting. This can cause the country a large fortune as far as revenue is concerned. The government just has to speak the truth. May be the visitors can be assured of extra care to prevent infections but the nation must be informed on the seriousness of the problem (National Research Council, Rossiĭskai︠a︡ akademii︠a︡ nauk, & Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2006).

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of the measures put in place can be measured at a given intervals of time to see the progress made. A research can be carried out to evaluate the impact that the newly developed initiative has had on the trend of the infection growth. The number of infections per given period starting from the time the new initiative was put in place is identified and compared to records. The population of the country is sampled and the trend quantified using statistical methods. If the danger is found out to be dropping then the initiative is effective. This can still be quantified by presenting the actual numbers involved (National Research Council, Rossiĭskai︠a︡ akademii︠a︡ nauk, & Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2006).

Summary

Russia is the largest country in the world and one of the world’s most developed countries. Surprisingly enough, its population is only half that of the United States. The growth rate in males in this country is negative, meaning that the death rate is higher than the growth rate with HIV/AIDS being one of the highest killer diseases in the country. Russia and Ukraine alone contribute up to ninety percent of all HIV/AIDS victims in the entire Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Institute of Medicine (USA) & National Academies Press (USA), 2007).

This problem can be controlled by embracing nursing as a profession and encouraging its development. Nursing organizations should be formed and related work ethics se to ensure that the objective of handling the victims is prioritized. The Russian government should ensure that the moral behavior of the citizens is controlled as well as offering educational programs through the media to create awareness.

References

Beck, E. J., Mays, N., Whiteside, A. W., & Zuniga, J. M. (2006). The HIV pandemic: Local and global implications. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Beyrer, C., & World Bank. (2011). The global HIV epidemics among men who have sex with men. Washington, D.C: World Bank.

Institute of Medicine (USA) & National Academies Press (USA). (2007). Preventing HIV infection among injecting drug users in high-risk countries: An assessment of the evidence. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.

National Research Council (U.S.), Rossiĭskai︠a︡ akademii︠a︡ nauk, & Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2006). Biological science and biotechnology in Russia: Controlling diseases and enhancing security. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.

Vinokur, A. (2001). The TB and HIV/AIDS Epidemics in the Russian Federation. Washington, D.C: World Bank.