HIV on the rise in Muslim countries
A new report has found that HIV infection rates are rising sharply in Middle Eastern and North African nations where homosexuality is illegal. The study released by the peer reviewed medical journal PloS Medicine found that cultural and legal pressures in countries where Islam is dominant drives male to male intercourse underground.
The study is one of the first attempts at gaining reliable data on what is a strictly taboo topic in Muslim countries. Medical experts from the Qatar arm of Weill Cornell Medical College used material from previous studies to look at HIV infection rates in Middle Eastern and North African countries.
Whilst the study admits that finding accurate data on the topic is notoriously hard, citing uncooperative Governmental officials and a culture of silence, the increase in HIV infection rates have risen dramatically by 14.8 percent in Iran, 27.6 percent in Pakistan and 9.3 percent in Sudan.
Health risks to the general population were also raised, as men participating in unprotected sex with other men often transmitted HIV to their wives, with condoms being used by only one in four of the men.
The report urged Middle Eastern government and medical authorities to “expand HIV surveillance and access to HIV testing, prevention and treatment services.”
