AIDS IN MENA

The documented rise in the last three years of HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is alarming. UNAIDS estimates of the total number of people living with HIV in the region had risen from 210,000 in 1998 to 540,000 in 2004; more than double the estimated cases. This should be strong incentive for rapid international, regional and national action, yet relatively few efforts, to this date, have been made.

In practice, HIV in the MENA region is poorly addressed by donor agencies and in most cases also by national agencies. Political, technical, financial and human resources, mobilization for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support are close to nil. This lack of action stands in strong contrast to the epidemiology of STI/HIV in the region, with the doubling of HIV infections and a sharp rise in STIs.  The characteristics of the HIV epidemic (and the STI pre-cursors) in MENA are adding to the urgency: 55 percent of cases are women and the major modes of transmission are heterosexual sex and intravenous drug use.

MENA is a troubled region of the world, with several dramatic military conflicts, terrorism of the world’s largest scale, economic and other sharp inequalities, religious tensions, and several long lasting epidemics of severe infectious diseases. All of these social and economic factors significantly influence the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region. Perhaps due to these social conflicts, research on HIV/ AIDS and STIs in MENA is scarce. The total hits in MEDLINE for 2002-3 is ten articles, mostly dealing with Turkey and Israel. The number of presentation on HIV/AIDS in MENA at international conferences during these years is less than 20. No forum for a serious exchange among scientists (and others) on STI/HIV/AIDS in MENA exists. Except for one--the Middle East Regional Network on AIDS (MERNA)-- there are no regional NGOs focusing on HIV/AIDS.