People living with HIV/AIDS fear “stigma and ostracism” in the Middle East, according to experts, while the World Health Organization estimates in a recent report that the number of infected people is about 430,000 people in the region, and these numbers remain subject to increase due to a shortage. Medical examinations prevent some from detecting infection.
Estimates World Health Organization It indicates that about 14,000 of the 430,000 infected people in the Middle East are children. This in addition to that adults and children newly infected with HIV is 42 thousand.
Middle East and North Africa
The director of the Health Care Association for Comprehensive Community Development, Nadia Badran, said in an interview with Al-Hurra that “all countries in the region have national strategies to combat AIDS, which are plans for ministries of health and national programs concerned with AIDS.”
However, it clarifies that “reporting in all countries of the region is not active, because there is a lack of examinations, and because there is often no budget for work.”
And she continues: “Ministries of health, even if they set up programs, they need sufficient funding to implement the strategies, and from here it is clear that, according to statistics, there are 430,000 people living with AIDS in the Middle East and North Africa. However, experts consider that there are many infected people who have not been examined.” So the expectations for injuries are much more than that.”
Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa and Latin America have seen increases in annual HIV infections over the past decade, according to a United Nations study.
The study stated that, every day, 4,000 people, including 1,100 young people (between the ages of 15 and 24), are infected with HIV.
If current trends continue, 1.2 million people will be infected with HIV in 2025, three times more than the 2025 target of 370,000 new infections.
The report states that during the year 2021, 650,000 people worldwide died of AIDS-related causes, at a rate of one person every minute.
stain
Therefore, Badran says that, because AIDS is associated with unprotected sexual behaviors or drug use, which are taboo subjects, as well as its association with groups such as the LGBT community, or women and men who work as sex workers, and the laws of some countries in the region criminalize the behaviors of these groups, so the disease has been associated with a “stigma.” Shame.” The injured are afraid to report or undergo examinations.
Badran continues that society looks down on people with contempt and unwillingness to deal with them, saying, “It is a taboo subject. People are afraid of requesting an AIDS test service, because they believe that if the authorities know that they are infected, they will be arrested. Hence the importance of raising awareness and prevention of issues related to sexual health.”
Dangerous numbers
According to the World Health Organization report, the number of people dying in the Middle East due to HIV-related causes is 19,000.
And he continued that the virus is concentrated among the groups at risk; They and sex workers, prisoners, transgender people, and people who inject drugs.
And the percentage of people living with HIV who know their status out of all people living with HIV is only 41 percent.
The World Health Organization report stated that the percentage of people infected with HIV who receive treatment out of the total number of people living with HIV is 27 percent, as well as the estimated percentage of pregnant women infected with HIV who received antivirals to prevent transmission from mother to child. are 23 percent.
Rejection of states and societies
Badran stresses the need to work to combat stigma and discrimination, and for society to give equality and rights to groups affected by AIDS. “The drug user is not a criminal, but rather a patient in need of treatment.”
Badran stressed the need for a rapid test to detect HIV infection, explaining that these tests are not available in all countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
By increasing the examinations, we reach the largest number of infected people, and countries limit the spread of the disease, according to Badran, who explains that AIDS-related treatment is provided by countries free of charge to infected people, and it is available in almost all countries.
“The treatment reduces the spread of the virus from the body, and the sooner the person gets it, the better the result. Adherence to it leads to limiting its transmission from the person. It does not cure, but rather reduces its spread and limits its release.”
Badran stressed that “discrimination against infected people in the region is unacceptable, as some jobs require AIDS tests, and this is useless and harms the infected, not to mention the Arab countries that do not grant residency to women infected with the disease.”
contained in a report United nations The number of people receiving HIV treatment worldwide increased by just 1.47 million people in 2021, compared to net increases of more than 2 million people in previous years. This is the smallest increase since 2009.
In 2021, an estimated 800,000 children living with HIV were still not receiving treatment.
Children made up 4 percent of people living with HIV in 2021.
The United Nations has indicated that the gap in HIV treatment coverage between children and adults is increasing rather than narrowing.
She said people who inject drugs have a 35 times greater risk of contracting HIV than adults who do not use drugs.
Also, female sex workers are 30 times more likely to be infected with HIV than adult women.
The report stated that gay men have a 28 times greater risk of contracting HIV than adult men.
and that trans women have a 14-times higher risk of contracting HIV than adult women.