MOSCOW, Nov 14 (AFP) - Despite increased spending on AIDS programs, Russia's efforts to combat the disease are being hampered by discrimination against people infected with HIV, United Nations and Russian officials said Monday.
"Our biggest problem is the public's attitude towards people with HIV, which cannot be changed by any financing," Russian Deputy Health Minister Vladimir Starodubov said at a news conference.
About 330,000 people in Russia carried the virus, 50,000 of them aged between 15 and 19, Starodubov said, adding that "more than 1,500 babies born to HIV-positive mothers are given up" every year.
The minister was speaking at a Moscow conference entitled "Children: The Missing Face of AIDS" alongside officials from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the UN Programme on HIV/AIDS.
AIDS was a "national priority" that would absorb about one billion dollars (855 million euros) over the next five years, Starodubov said.
"It's not enough to increase the budget. There has to be a climate of support for people with HIV who often find themselves isolated," said Ella Pamfilova, the head of a human rights committee answering to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia had the infrastructure and resources to counter the disease, said Carel de Rooy, UNICEF's representative in Moscow.
"But one of the essential conditions for success in this struggle is the determination of the Russian public to fight discrimination against people with HIV," he added.
A recent study by the New York-based Human Rights Watch group found widespread official discrimination against HIV-positive children across Russia, including denying them access to kindergartens.
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