ABSTRACT
The previous two chapters discussed the working environment of HIV/AIDS NGOs in Russia by elaborating on both their domestic and international contexts. Locating the NGOs in the framework of civil society development, on the one hand, enables us to understand the challenges of civic engagement in post-Soviet Russia, where civil society traditions remain weak and associations are hampered by an unfavourable regulatory framework. Contextualising the NGOs within the global governance of HIV/AIDS, on the other hand, gives insight into the international framework which recognises the participation of civil society actors and thereby strengthens their role as policy actors in the domestic realm. Both the domestic and international context shape the conditions under which HIV/AIDS NGOs are working in present-day Russia and affect their capacity to influence HIV/AIDS policy-making. Now it is time to shift attention to the problem area the NGOs in question are dealing with: Russia’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. What is the current situation and how did it evolve?
