Middle Eastern and North African countries need to start learning from and communicating with one another to improve their Aids prevention and treatment programmes, a new UN report says. "The single most important recommendation is for countries in the region to learn from the experiences of their neighbours," says the draft report released at the UNAids meeting in Dubai yesterday.
"Although HIV-related efforts in the Mena region can be challenging, there are many individual success stories with lessons that can be applied more widely," it adds. The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is one of only two in the world where the number of HIV cases is rising. Eastern and central Europe is also experiencing an increase. In 2007, between 280,000 and 510,000 people were estimated to be living with HIV in the Mena region.
Some countries in the region have had major epidemics among specific groups, the report notes, forcing them to tailor their responses. Iran, for example, estimates that 14.3 per cent of injecting drug users have HIV. In response, it launched a harm-reduction programme that includes needle exchanges, methadone clinics and easier access to condoms. Meanwhile, a fifth of prostitutes in Djibouti are affected and just over five per cent of homosexual men in Egypt have contracted the disease.
The UAE did not provide any data on the modes of transmission in its 2010 HIV progress report to the UN. Hind Khatib, the regional director of UNAids, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids, said countries should take advantage of other's experiences, particularly when it comes to sensitive issues. "It is easy for a country to say 'it is a social, cultural and religious issue', and push you back," she said. "But if you bring another country which has already tackled the issue, they can't push you back."
Morocco is also a conservative country, she said, but has set up a successful prevention programme that works with prostitutes and homosexuals. The UNAids report also praises Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Lebanon, Somalia and Yemen for making great efforts to track the high-risk populations. "Just because you make an effort to target and acknowledge these groups," Ms Khaitb said, "it does not mean you are encouraging it."
Laith Abu Raddad, who helped compile a World Bank report on the epidemic in the region, agreed countries should share their successes and failures, particularly when it comes to data collection. "This is crucial," he said. "Many countries are doing much better at this, but other countries are not. They need to watch and learn." Dubai Police have recently stepped up their efforts to prevent transmission of HIV in prisons, according to Col Dr Mohamed al Mur, the general director of legal and disciplinary action.
He said part of the motivation was learning the value of education and prevention programmes from neighbouring countries. "We have done lots of talks with them, and have brought in people with HIV to talk to the inmates," he said. "Yes, there are drugs in prison, but we also have good medicine programmes. It has changed a lot in the past and I'm sure will help. It will take time." @Email:munderwood@thenational.ae
