Homophobia and the stigmatisation of people with HIV and AIDS are hampering efforts to tackle the spread of infection in Russia and the other countries of the former Soviet Union.
The number of people there with HIV has risen to 1.6 million since 2001 – an increase of 150 per cent. Only by being more accepting of homosexuality and of the need to treat intravenous drug users can the region “turn the corner”, Peter Piot of UNAIDS told the in Moscow on 2 May.
The worry is that if people in these high-risk…
