Gennady Onishchenko (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)
April 21, 2006 -- The presidium of Russia's State Council has decided to set up a special government commission to review how the country deals with its growing problem of HIV infections.
Russia's chief health inspector, Gennady Onishchenko, described the decision as "historic." He said fighting HIV and AIDS would no longer be a purely medical issue, but also a political one.
More than 350,000 Russians are officially registered as having HIV, but domestic and foreign experts believe the true number of infections may be more than 1 million.
(ITAR-TASS, Interfax)