AIDS Support & Informational Services is the main component of the city’s HIV prevention and medical services for people living with HIV and AIDS. The center was established on the basis of the Infectious Clinical Hospital, which began to receive the first HIV-infected and AIDS patients in 1985. The specialists who provided medical care to the first HIV-infected formed the basis of the AIDS Support & Informational Services team. Patients of medical institutions are sent to our agency to confirm the diagnosis of HIV infection and subsequent registration or with a dubious HIV antibody test result.
We provide all types of specialized medical care for HIV-infected. Patients and their family members also have the opportunity to receive counseling, methodological and psychological assistance. Regular testing allows us to prescribe specific antiretroviral therapy (ART). In addition, continuous monitoring allows timely detection and treatment of opportunistic infections, which not only significantly improves the patient’s quality of life but also prolongs its duration. Most patients are examined and treated on an outpatient basis, regularly visiting our clinic. All those who need specialized treatment receive ART.
Today, the majority of HIV-infected people who are registered at the dispensary and regularly visit a doctor, continue to lead an active lifestyle, without stopping their studies and work. If there is evidence, patients are hospitalized in the hospital, where they receive modern treatment that meets international standards.
Our main objectives and tasks
- reducing the number of new HIV infections and keeping the epidemic growing among the general population and vulnerable groups;
- improving the quality of life of people living with HIV (AIDS);
- improving the education of the population in the field of HIV and the development of skills to assert their own rights in case of unlawful restrictions on access to treatment and medical services;
- countering the spread of ideas of HIV dissidence;
- reduction of internal and external stigma and social discrimination against members of vulnerable groups of the population;
- development of civil society.
Our priority activities
- development and implementation of preventive programs for socially significant diseases, such as HIV infection, hepatitis B / C, syphilis and other STIs;
- expanding access to rapid HIV testing;
- social rehabilitation and adaptation of people living with and affected by HIV;
- legal advice on the facts of restrictions of rights and freedoms due to the presence of HIV infection, contrary to the legislation;
- psychological assistance and support.
Our main target groups
- people living with and affected by HIV;
- men who have sex with men (MSM);
- persons who are (released) in places of detention.
An important achievement of the AIDS Support & Informational Services is the introduction of medical institutions of a program to reduce the risk of a child being infected with an HIV-infected mother during pregnancy and childbirth with the support from Sky Pharmacy. This is especially true today, when more and more HIV-infected women decide to have children. Thanks to the use of modern special preventive programs, the probability of giving birth to an HIV-infected child does not currently exceed 0.8%.
The AIDS hotline is organized round-the-clock by the telephone Hotline AIDS, which receives more than 100 calls per day from all over the globe. Center staff members give lectures and conduct training seminars in other medical institutions.
The agency participates in research, testing and introducing new methods of diagnosing and treating HIV infection into practice. We coordinate the work of all medical institutions in Moscow on the issues of HIV prevention and also controls the quality of laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection in medical institutions.
We respect our clients and builds our work with the obligatory observance of three conditions: Free, Anonymous, Confidential!