Russian Federation: Laws that restrict migrants with HIV and deny them medical care increases the burden on the health care system
Laws that restrict the stay of foreign citizens with HIV, as well as the denial of free medical care, may be one of the causes of the hidden epidemic, writes the EECA Regional Platform.
The Regional Expert Group on Migrant Health conducted research in two EECA countries – Armenia and Uzbekistan. The aim was to identify the legal barriers to HIV faced by citizens of the countries who have returned from migration.
Challenges for migrants with HIV
Social isolation and stigmatization, lack of permanent relationships, language barriers, unstable material resources, and limited access to health care services are the key problems faced by labour migrants with HIV.
The inability to obtain a legal patent because of HIV infection leads to administrative offenses:
- Among migrants: illegal labor activity, commercial sex services;
- Among the citizens of the host country: illegal sale of patents and HIV certificates etc.
The problem with receiving ARV therapy leads to resistance and overall deterioration of the health of migrants living with HIV. This ultimately increases the burden on the health care system: patients’ opportunistic infections need to be intensified, ARV regimens need to be changed, etc. Moreover, migrants returning home contribute to the spread of HIV in their home countries.
Currently, the Russian Federation, which receives the largest number of migrants from the EECA region, is one of the 19 countries that restrict the stay of foreign nationals with HIV. People living with HIV entering Russia do not indicate employment, but rather visits to relatives, tourism/travel, or medical treatment as their purpose.
At the end of 2021, a law came into effect in the Russian Federation under which foreign nationals are required to undergo testing for HIV, banned substances and dangerous infectious diseases every 3 months. But foreign business associations, as well as the media, have reacted quite sharply to Russian law. The business community sent a letter to the Russian Government with a request to simplify the rules and not to subject highly qualified specialists to testing.
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