 Маргарита Эшнецкольт, Андрея Рико, фондация Health and Social Justice Мы работаем в России, и в России – это единственная страна в Европе, где rising rate of HIV While most of the countries globally were able to control their epidemics In Russia, 10 people get infected every hour 100 000 new cases were registered just last year and almost 32 000 people have died of AIDS The main cause of death is tuberculosis and 5 million people in Russia live with hepatitis Are there any particular reasons for such a dramatic health crisis? It is not a result of bad faith or bad climate in my country It is a direct result of the government's complete inaction sabotage of public health and refusal to provide effective prevention to people who need it most people who inject drugs, sex workers, men who have sex with men Instead of access to effective evidence-based HIV and TB drug treatment what the government offers to people who use drugs is repression mass incarceration, torture in public health and in law enforcement and endless emulation Prisons are healed with people who use drugs Over a fourth of all prisoners in Russia are punished for drug offenses mostly for just using or possessing drugs 40% of women in prisons are there for drug use For people whose immune status is weakened by drug dependence and HIV imprisonment easily leads to TB infection and AIDS so it effectively equals to death sentence Prisons are not a solution for the health crisis We need the government to support evidence-based, human rights-based programs in Russia, in Eastern Europe and Central Asia all over the world In Russia, effective and evidence-driven interventions such as opioid substitution therapy are still illegal New Zealand syringe programs are considered as threat to drug strategy of the country and the organizations like my own that provide this life-saving services to people are labeled as foreign agents We are not foreign agents We are communities of people affected by HIV We are people who lost their loves, who lost their friends and close ones to HIV And despite the oppression of the criminal government we will be providing life-saving services to people who need them most We will never be able to achieve zero new infections if we don't put all our effort into achieving zero criminalization And we will only be able to do so if we can shift the drug policy paradigm towards decriminalization of people who use drugs legalization of drugs and regulation of the drug markets People who are in prisons for drug use and possession all over the world have to be freed and rehabilitated legally socially and economically People cannot be criminalized for their behavior sexual preferences, labor preferences or what substances they choose to use Today I would like to support the key population networks from my region campaigning against criminalization Protect freedom, dignity and human rights of all affected by HIV Chase the virus Let's keep it up!