(Vincent Duran is a researcher at AIDS Infoshare in Moscow)

Drag queens freely strut down the streets of Buenos Aires in purple fur coats, gays hand out flyers for all-night parties, and women in miniskirts shout louder than all. Emancipation and freedom of expression seem to be in full gear in this country of romantic music and Italian accents. However, for much of the 20th century, Argentina has known a series of authoritarian regimes, ranging from the deceivingly populist Peronist era to the crude and horrifying Proceso of the 1970s during which tens of thousands were "disappeared."

In the midst of such times, silence was a method of survival. Friends were enemies and words were guns. A culture of silence was created, and through the regeneration of this ideological element regime after regime, it progressively ingrained itself in people´s psyches, becoming an intrinsic part of their character.

Since the end of the last authoritarian regime in 1983, freedom of expression has evolved significantly in Argentina, yet there exists a psychological remnant of those times, namely a propensity towards silence in the face of sensitive issues like poverty, racism, and AIDS.

Dr. Graciela Biagini, an AIDS specialist in Argentina, states that, "there is a generalized agreement among AIDS researchers that Argentines have a high level of education about the various modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS." Yet, while many are aware that AIDS can affect them, there is very little discussion surrounding this topic.

Studies show that Argentines cannot openly speak about AIDS with friends or their sexual partners (cf. Biagini, Kornblit, Bianco, Gogna). As a result, in this seemingly emancipated and liberalized society, condom use remains low. As Dr. Monica Gogna, a leading AIDS researcher in Argentina expressed, "the generalized opinion… is that it is difficult if not impossible to suggest the use of a condom to a stable partner. It is a sign of mistrust."

The high level of education about AIDS Argentines possess is inconsistent with their poor level of communication. The spread of HIV/AIDS remains concealed in this country, a result due not to ignorance, but to the silence that surrounds the disease. Indeed, while according to the World Bank´s World Development Indicators (WDI), Argentina is South America´s most "developed" country, it is also home to the highest incidence rate of AIDS cases (0.69 percent in 2000), as reported by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

From blond hair, blue eyes, Dostoyevsky and ice to dark skin, tango, Borges and empanadas, it seems at times that Russia and Argentina could not be more different. However, among other things, they are tied together by their recent history of oppression and the resulting lack of discussion surrounding the topic of AIDS today.

Due to the Soviet era´s closed borders, AIDS is a latecomer on the social scene of Russia. In 1986, Argentina had already been dealing with AIDS for four years, the United States for five, while Russia was just welcoming its first infected individual. In July of 1997, Russia had little more than 5,000 cases of HIV infection, according to the Russian AIDS Center.

Today, however, the total official number of infected people living in Russia is 170,000. The Russian Institute For Preventing and Combating AIDS estimates the real figure to be more than half a million.

Russia is experiencing the world´s sharpest increase in HIV infection, according to AIDS Epidemic Update, with infection rates rising in patterns disturbingly similar to those observed in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than 75 percent of the world´s 37 million people living with HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS has declared Russia to be "on the verge of an HIV epidemic that will be very difficult to contain."

Until recently, however, Russia´s government has done very little to properly combat AIDS, focusing its efforts mostly on fear-based campaigns. In the late ´80s and ´90s, mandatory HIV/AIDS testing was implemented on a wide scale, usually without the knowledge or consent of those being tested and in most cases with complete disregard to doctor confidentiality. Those who turned up positive received little counseling, and were instead persecuted and progressively marginalized from society.

While improvements have been observed in the last few years, experts say that there are still many Russians who are afraid to get tested for fear of discrimination. Those most affected by this are people involved in illicit activities such as IV drug users and commercial sex workers, paradoxically the social group most at risk of being infected and unknowingly infecting others at a later date; this is food for thought if one considers, as AIDS specialists do, that in the course of a year, one drug-user sharing infected needles can infect 100 others. "There are an estimated 3 to 4 million drug users in Russia," says Medicins sans frontiers (Doctors Without Borders).

While injecting-drug users still represent the majority of HIV cases in Russia, the epidemic has already spread to other social groups in Russia as a whole. A positive note however is that there is a general acknowledgment of Russians´ high level of education surrounding AIDS.

According to a national telephone survey conducted by leading AIDS researcher, Dr. Irina Savchenko, 89 percent of the respondents correctly answered questions about the ways in which HIV is transmitted.

Unfortunately, the good news ends here, for, as Savchenko continues, "despite the increased availability of condoms in most Russian cities, this information does not translate into behavior changes to reduce risk of exposure."

In fact, researchers at the Wisconsin Medical Center, revealed this year that only 6 percent of Russians use condoms regularly. Along these lines, a number of studies indicate that Russians on the whole are still hesitant to talk about HIV/AIDS in an open and honest fashion.

Such inconsistencies between a high level of education about AIDS and a poor level of prevention and discussion mimic the trends observed in Argentina. Indeed, while the false realities and culture of silence created under the Soviet regime have all but disappeared, a certain tendency towards silence continues to pierce Russia´s discourse on AIDS

In the last few years, Argentina has begun a public awareness campaign that is starting to affect people´s ability to talk about the disease. The Russian government must be a model for its people and, in this case, lay down the foundation for an open forum of discussion on AIDS.

While education about the disease is always necessary, all efforts to curb the rising epidemic will be annulled if they are not accompanied by public efforts to stimulate a free and honest communication about the disease.

Russia AIDS facts at a glanceHIV carriers diagnosed in Russia since 1987: 180,000Number of people in Russia diagnosed with AIDS: 591Percentage of those diagnosed who contracted the disease through IV-drug use: 94 percent HIV rate in Russia in January, 2002: 119.9*HIV rate in Russia in January, 1996: 0.6**people per 100,000.
(Central Research Institute for Epidemic Studies)

The AIDS scenario awaiting Russia in the near future is alarming. Five million Russians are predicted to be infected by 2005. For a shrinking population of 145 million, such a figure is disturbing.

In addition, funds available for AIDS are insufficient: while Dr. Vadim Pokrovsky of the Russian AIDS Center declared that at least $100 million are needed to efficiently combat AIDS, only $2 million could be allocated to the fight against AIDS this year.

Due in part to the late arrival of HIV/AIDS, Russia has the advantage of a high level of education surrounding the disease. Now, with the help and support of its government, Russians must learn to communicate and act according to what many of them already know.