The Late 1980s HIV Outbreak in the Southeast of Soviet Russia: Soviet Government and Its Policy against the Epidemic (The Case of Kalmykia)

Introduction. The study provides a first insight into the official Soviet policy and anti-HIV nationwide arrangements (1985–1990), and reviews the 1988–1989 HIV outbreak in the southeast of the RSFSR. The paper’s chronological framework covers the era of dramatic political and socioeconomic changes and restructuring endeavors commonly referred to as ‘perestroika’. Goals. The study attempts a comprehensive analysis to identify some features of the policy pursued by Soviet executives and healthcare agencies in the face of the emerging HIV threat throughout the mid-to-late 1980s. The work focuses on the activities of government institutions, certain measures, preventive and anti-epidemic arrangements, as well as the efforts of a special commission for organizational and practical assistance to Soviet Kalmykia’s Ministry of Health. Materials and methods. The study rests on the fundamental principles of systemacity, objectivity, historicism and complexity that have proved instrumental in analyzing documentary sources and comparing the obtained materials; describing the development and changes in official HIV-related policy; examining social, political and economic shifts across the regions under consideration as integral to what was being experienced nationwide; articulating objective evaluations of the Soviet government’s policy pertaining to the epidemic. The article primarily investigates a variety of newly discovered documents from the National Archive of Kalmykia and State Archive of the Russian Federation. Results. The arrived HIV served an indicator that would test the strength of Soviet healthcare system, and the latter — like the whole country — was not ready to fight the ‘plague of the twentieth century’. The adopted anti-epidemic policy proved inefficient. Meanwhile, the limited access to research, established practices of secrecy, and incompetence of the country’s leadership had negative impacts on the struggle against the dangerous disease. The then changes did negatively affect such an important social sphere as healthcare, which led to a severe decline of what once had been a leading public health system of the world.

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