Penza, 21 January 2017. PenzaNews. A newborn child was diagnosed with the HIV infection in the Penza region. This was reported by the assistant chief medical officer at the Penza dedicated clinical medical assistance centre, an expert in the field of HIV/AIDS fight Sergei Oleynik.

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"Yesterday at the weekly meeting in the Ministry of Health, I announced the data of the monitoring of the realization of the state strategy for HIV infection resistance over the last week. One factor is very painful. It 'touches' all people (intelligent and not really). One of the children, who was born by a HIV-infected woman, was diagnosed with the HIV infection in the Penza region," he wrote on Live Journal on Saturday, January 21.

According to Sergei Oleinik, "it is an extraordinary event taking into account modern preventive technologies".

"If a woman was diagnosed with the HIV infection but has her pregnancy registered in time, she has almost no problems. The medicine is opportunely prescribed to her and the child is born free from HIV with the highest degree of probability. It is the ideal scenario. I do not know why but in Russia HIV infection specialists do not evaluate such factor as timely registration of pregnancy. The Ministry of Health in the Penza region has controlled this factor since 2016, it is "monitored". We have 1% of pregnant women at childbirth, who were not registered at a perinatal clinic. The situation in other region (according to limited data) is even worse. It may lead not only to HIV infection. Last week for example a healthy woman gave birth to a dead child," the assistant chief medical officer at the Penza dedicated clinical medical assistance centre explained.

He noted that the question of why women do not register for pregnancy is worth thorough consideration.

"[…] The mother, whose child was born with HIV, was found guilty in 2016 for selling expensive drugs for HIV infection treatment, which are provided to HIV-infected people by the state for free," Sergei Oleynik explained.

According to information available on the website of the Penza dedicated clinical medical assistance center, a total of 3,521 people were infected with the HIV in the region since 1988, along with 288 in Zarechny.

Overall, by December 31, 2016, there were 2,490 people in the Penza region (without Zarechny) living with HIV/AIDS, with a resulting prevalence of 194 cases per 100,000 population. Previous year the prevalence was 194 cases per 100,000 population.

In 2016, 408 residents of the Penza region were diagnosed with the HIV infection for the first time. The HIV infection rate in the Penza region amounts to 31.8 per 100,000 population. Overall, 509 new cases of HIV infection were registered in the territory of the region including Zarechny and the Federal Service for the Execution of Sentences, and the infection rate amounted to 37,7 per 100,000 population.

Two children under the age of 14 were also diagnosed with the HIV infection.