24 November 2010
DUBAI - The percentage is still low compared to the average global level, but the number of cases of HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries have doubled in the last ten years.
This is what has been revealed by the UN Agency for the fight against Aids, UNAids, which has put it in black and white that there were 75,000 news cases registered last year in the region against the 36,000 cases in 2001.
According to the most recent data which relates to the end of 2009, the rate of infection does not exceed 0.2% against a global average of 0.8% but the region is one of only two geographical areas in the world (the other is Eastern Europe/Central Asia) where there has been an increase, rather than a decrease. This is an alarming figure and researchers say that it is even more so considering that the numbers can only be approximate due to the traditional and conservative societies, where AIDS - above all if linked to unaccepted sexual behaviour - is still a taboo.
The researchers, who point the finger at cultural and religious narrow-mindedness which prevents a clear in-depth analysis of the infected population in the MENA region, do concede that this narrow-mindedness does have the advantage of limiting risky and homosexual behaviour.
In the majority of Arab countries, homosexuality - like extra-marital affairs - is considered a crime: in several countries these crimes are still punishable by death. If there is an immigrant involved in the Gulf Countries, said person is immediately expelled. A measure considered to be a violation of human rights by UNAids and that several countries, including the UAE where 85% of the population is not local, are now reviewing.
The theory of ''cultural and religious immunity'' was however criticised by Khadijah Moalla, UN regional coordinator, who, in a recent meeting at the School of Government in Dubai, underlined that in the Arab world, 80% of women contract HIV from their husbands: to consider that following appropriate religious and cultural behaviour prevents infection is therefore misleading and dangerous.
The groups most at risk of infection, reads the 360-page report, continue to be those linked to prostitution and drug use. In Iran, 17% of people infected use injectable drugs. In Egypt, the percentage of ''sex workers'' is 1%, whilst it oscillates between 2% and 4% in Algeria, Morocco and the Yemen.
Furthermore, in Egypt 6% of homosexuals have contracted the AIDS virus. Overall, there are currently at least 460,000 people affected by AIDS living in the MENA region. In 2001, there were 180,000. In line with the rate of infection, the death rate has also increased: whilst it is estimated that there were 8,300 AIDS-related deaths in 2001, 23,000 AIDS-related deaths were recorded at the end of 2009.
Source: ANSAmed.
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