AIDS East-west Fund To Launch Anti-AIDS Program For Russia

The international non-governmental organisation AIDS East-West Fund is about to launch its anti-HIV programs for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, announced Rian van de Braak, the General Director of the Fond, at a Tuesday press conference in Moscow. According to van de Braak, the programs of the Fund -- which was set up by the international organisation Medicine Sans Frontieres with the financial support of the Dutch government and the Open Society Institute -- focus, above all, on the risk group, i.e. convicts and addicts who inject drugs intravenously. Van de Braak, who hopes the Fund will continue cooperating with Russia's justice and health ministries in combating AIDS, remarked that "almost the entire MSF staff working in Russia" would be involved in the effort to combat the virus. As of today, the Fund has offices in Moscow, Kiev and Alma-Ata, but it intends to open more offices in the CIS later.