Experts drafting a national strategy to prevent the spread of HIV hope to have it endorsed and ready for implementation next year.
The plan being drawn up by the Ministry of Health aims to enshrine the rights of HIV patients, ensure access to treatment and educate high-risk groups.
Although a bylaw protecting the rights of HIV patients has already been passed, endorsement of the plan by the Cabinet would pave the way for prevention programmes and response measures such as confidential and voluntary testing for all.
Nada Al Marzouqi, head of the National Aids Programme, said the plan was being reviewed with the United Nations body Unaids, and that she hoped for its endorsement by the Cabinet by 2013.
The 2012 Unaids Global Aids Response Progress report, released in March, warned that while the prevalence of HIV in the UAE was "low" - defined as less than 1 per cent of the general population and less than 5 per cent of high-risk groups - there were factors that could lead to a "rapid increase" in cases. One such factor was the absence of an officially endorsed national strategy plan.
The national plan was first drafted in 2006 and reviewed in 2010. Dr Al Marzouqi said the delay was in part due to problems in identifying the country's high-risk groups.
"Active surveillance is something that we are still missing," she said. "In order to work effectively, we need to identify these people. But this is very difficult considering the sensitivity of the topic. We've sought technical assistance from Unaids to determine the best approach."
The Unaids report documents 726 HIV cases among UAE nationals - 546 male and 180 female.
The number of new cases reported fluctuates each year and does not follow a trend. In 2010-2011, 93 new HIV cases were reported among Emiratis, with 36 in 2010 and 57 in 2011. In 2009, nearly 50 were reported.
Although official figures show the UAE to be low prevalence, this does not necessarily mean the country is in the clear, said Dr Hamidreza Setayesh, Unaids regional programme adviser.
"The problem is we don't have any information regarding high-risk population segments in the UAE, so we don't know where the country stands," he said.
High-risk groups include men who have homosexual intercourse, sex workers, and intravenous drug users. However, the criminal nature of such activities should not prevent efforts to reach out to these population segments, Dr Setayesh said.
The report sites that while no UAE data is available on HIV prevalence among homosexuals, data from neighbouring countries show that this group accounts for as much as 15 per cent of all HIV transmission.
Dr Setayesh said providing services to high-risk groups were among the most effective approaches used by other countries. Iran, for example, distributes substitution therapies to about 30,000 intravenous drug users each year, while Morocco implements mother-to-child transmission prevention programmes.
Dr Abdullah Ustadi, the head of infectious diseases unit at Rashid Hospital, where HIV patients from the Northern Emirates are treated, said the social stigma associated with the disease remained the greatest challenge.
"You have to change the attitude of the people and the culture," he said. "Our culture does not allow you to go out in the open and say you are a homosexual, it's very difficult. The only thing you can do is anonymous voluntary testing."
Although the national strategy plan will offer voluntary screening to all residents, including expatriates, it may prompt a challenge of its own, Dr Ustadi warned. Expatriates who test positive for HIV are deported.
"You need to have some sort of a system because this is going to be for locals and non-locals," he said. "Under the condition that a non-local comes out positive, what are you going to do?"
Each month, between four to six new patients are admitted to Rashid Hospital. More than half are expatriates.
Dr Ustadi also said that where once the majority of cases involved drug users, most cases now involved heterosexuals who did not use drugs. He said cases involving homosexuals were "sporadic", adding that such individuals were not reported to the police.
"We don't criminalise anybody; that's out of the question," he said. "It's only between the doctor and the patient."
Meanwhile, misconceptions about the disease continue to hamper community awareness.
"Aids is not transmitted through breath or by simply sitting next to someone," he said. "It can only be transmitted through blood and the exchange of bodily fluids. That is my biggest challenge - to fight this stigma and the illiteracy about this particular disease."
