The international organization Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS (TPAA) has prepared a report offering specific recommendations for battling AIDS.

“The statistics are staggering; the forecast is grim. The implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for both countries’ populations, economies and national security are sobering. Yet, there is hope, and powerful voices are calling us to action,” says the report “On the Frontline of an Epidemic. The Need for Urgency in Russia’s Fight against AIDS”, which was released on Wednesday. The document paints a realistic picture of the AIDS epidemic in Russia and offers specific recommendations for fighting this disaster.

The TPAA suggests mobilizing the resources of North America, Europe and Eurasia in the fight against the AIDS epidemic in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). TPAA President John Tedstrom stressed that Russia was facing a crisis. According to the experts, there is little time left to prevent the disaster facing Russia. This problem, threatening the country’s national security and economic performance, can no longer be ignored, it is stressed in the report. Given Russia’s aging population, rising rates of male mortality, and lower birth rates, the country’s armed forces might number no more than 600,000 to 700,000 people by 2020, the report says. According to the State Duma’s Defense Committee, about 20 percent of draftees were drug users in 2002.

As drug users are particularly vulnerable to HIV, the spread of the deadly virus will further restrict the possibilities of the Russian armed forces to draft healthy young men, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta notes. As a result, the Russian Army’s control of western borders will weaken, which will hit Russia’s potential in its fight against terrorism.