Olkov, Ilya

Dr. Ilya Olkov M.D. is founder and director of the Social Programs Development Charity Foundation in Russia. Dr. Olkov specializes in neurology, allergology, clinical immunology, public health and oncology. The mission of the Social Programs Development Charity Foundation is to develop and implement socially important projects to prevent cancer in the 85 regions of the country with 78.6 million women.

Dr. Olkov has established a number of regional HPV screening programs in Russia for a cohort of around 100 000 women. He is involved with many aspects of the programs – from age group selection, raising funds from local authorities, selection and installation of validated screening technologies, training and education of local medical staff and more. Dr. Olkov oversees sample collection, collaboration and synergy of screening participants, triage and treatment, attracting volunteers’ associations, public relations and media.

Since 2018, the Social Programs Development Charity Foundation has been an official partner of the IPVS International HPV Awareness Day Campaign in Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries. The March 4^th event has become ‘the’ Global Russian Initiative against cervical cancer. The foundation has been able to establish partnerships both with regional governments and international donors. Two main events occur in  in 85 regions: a program targeting doctors and other healthcare providers and a second program focused on women.  An encouraging result has been that  some regions in Russia have started free vaccination of the girls and boys against HPV and free HPV screening for women.