Kostya Proletarsky - a human face to TB/HIV epidemic in Russia
Please read this shocking appeal which is forwarded from Anya Sarang of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice in Russia as a reminder of the attrocious conditions faced by our friends in the east.
Dear colleagues,
a month ago we lost our dear friend, an HIV activist and harm reduction social woker Kostya Proletarsky from St Petersburg. He died of a severe health condition developed in a medical correctional colony for TB patients, where for 2.5 years he couldnt get access to ARVs, and effective TB diagnostic and 2-line treatment. And where, apart from that, he experienced severest human rights violations including torture, deprivation of human dignity, no access to basic health care, no proper living conditions, food etc. More than half year after Kostya has been released due to health with the help of NGO Humanitarian Action, the doctors in the Botkin hospital in St Pete were fighting for his health, but it turned out to be impossible to fix the damage that has been done after 2,5 years imprisonment and also to ensure best adherence to treatment in the conditions of absence of access to substitution treatment which is still illegal in Russia.
Today, Russia positions itself as a rich and politically influential country. Internationals keep praising our government for putting big money into "solving" of the country HIV and TB crisis. The government claims and declares that they do not need international support for HIV and TB programs. A large TB proposal of the Russian Health Care Foundation that was developed with a help of many experts for a TB grant and that represented a hope for community that people will be able to get into this program and get their treatment, is failing to get support from the governments officials and even international organizations, including several UN agencies, who sit on the Country Coordinating Mechanism. With HIV, Russia is no longer eligible for HIV funding with the Global Fund - we are an upper middle income country and a GF donor ourselves -- the fact that brings great pride to Russian politicians and death to Russian drug users.
While Russian officials are praised by every possible one for their work, our friends - people from all over the the country keep dying of totally avoidable deaths. Every day we hear news about new people, including kids, taken off ARV treatment in this or that city due to treatment stock outs and totally dysfunctional procurement systems both on national and regional levels. Of people who cannot get effective TB diagnostics and treatment of their conditions - in hospitals, let alone prisons... Or, even when drugs are available, of difficulties of supporting peoples adherence to treatment in in- and out-patient modes due to absence of substitution treatment in Russia.
We ask you to remember this and not to get carried away by illusory statements of Russian well-being! And we do hope that the story of our dearest friend Kostya will put a human face to what is really happening with the epidemic of HIV/TB among drug users in Russia. It is not only an epidemic of diseases, but much more - of total neglect of existence of vulnerable groups such as drug users and their needs, of human rights violations, of hypocrisy and sacrificing of lives of thousands and thousands of people in the name of political glory.
Please help us to make the story known!
Anya Sarang,
President
Andrey Rylkov's Foundation for Health and Social Justice
Moscow
Russia