But Putin is meeting with stiff resistance from the Russian Orthodox Church,
whose head has written to him saying that western-funded AIDS programmes amount
to "corruption of children". Church members have also been behind recent
attacks on gay clubs.
Putin recently told a meeting of top officials that Russia so far "lacked a
common strategy" on how to deal with HIV.
He said: "We need to constantly explain to people the danger and high risk of
catching HIV. Above all, it is important to work with high-risk groups."
He even questioned the HIV figures put out by his own officials.
"According to official figures, the number of HIV-infected people has exceeded
342,000, and experts think it is much higher," he said.
"In the main these are people below 30 years old."
The Kremlin is to spend $175 million (£95 million) on HIV programmes this year,
compared with only $5 million last year.
What started as an epidemic concentrated among drug users has rapidly spread to
the general population, mainly among Russia's youth. In Moscow in 2000, drug
use accounted for over 80% of infections and heterosexual sex just 10%, but by
2004 heterosexual infections accounted for half of all new cases.
Gay infection rates are officially low, but since being gay is highly
stigmatised are probably under-reported.
However Putin faces an uphill fight to change orthodox opinion in Russia, where
HIV is still seen as something that only affects drug users and sex workers.
The day before Putin's announcement, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church,
Patriarch Alexy II, wrote a letter to him saying that western-funded HIV
prevention projects in the country were inconsistent with Russian culture.
He said: "Under the guise of promoting a healthy lifestyle and AIDS prevention
among the younger generation, programmes are being spread which cannot be
deemed as anything else than a sexual and moral corruption of children."
And Moscow City Council asked Putin to ban foreign AIDS charities from handing
out condoms and clean needles in the capital.
Putin, however, said that foreign assistance remained essential to controlling
the epidemic.
UNAIDS has estimated that AIDS could kill 20 million Russians and wipe out 14%
of the country's GDP by 2050 if nothing was done to control it.
Courtesy Gus Cairns for more see: www.guscairns.com
