WHO says East Mediterranean faces huge HIV threat

Dr Jihane Tawilah - WHO's Regional Advisor on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) - said, today, more than 700,000 people are now living with HIV in the EMR.

She was speaking at the IIR organised International Arab Health Congress - the largest programme of medical conferences ever held in the region, underway at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre (DIEC).

"The global spread of HIV is faster and larger than scientists believed possible more than two decades ago and is taking an increasingly destructive course," Tawilah told the Congress, being hosted by Arab Health 2003, the Middle East's leading international hospital medical equipment and services exhibition.

"Recent projections have shattered the belief that infections have peaked and the disease is being brought under control. In fact threat is still at an early stage. In the EMR there were 80,000 new HIV infections in 2001," Tawilah said.

According to Tawilah growing drug abuse among the region's burgeoning young population will fuel the next wave of HIV infections in the EMR, which contains 23 countries and 7.5% of the world's population.

"Several EMR countries, including Iran and Libya, have reported significant percentages of injected drug use (IDU) among HIV cases. WHO believes IDU will determine the future spread of HIV in the region, while sexual transmission and STDs will be the bridge, from these groups, to the general population," said Tawilah.

"Morocco has declared 600,000 sexually transmitted infections annually and Egypt and Sudan have found important rates of curable STDs infection among pregnant women and some groups known to have high risk sexual behaviours."

Tawilah said WHO is working with member states "to break the chain of denial and stigma" to prevent and avert new infections. "The costs of HIV prevention interventions are low and cost effective. However, the problem remains the low access to prevention information and services for those people who need it most, the poor and vulnerable," she added.

The conference was also addressed by Prof Luc Montagnier, the co-discoverer of the HIV virus. Prof Montagnier, who is President of the World AIDS Foundation, said despite undeniably good results in the treatment of HIV, the virus is still spreading, endangering the economy and political stability of many developing countries.

"In the face of the alarming global spread of the disease in every country, especially in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, India and Eastern Europe, it is essential to find new therapeutic approaches, which can be made available to all patients at reasonable cost," said Prof Montagnier.

"Industrialised countries must not close their eyes to the virulence of the scourge and should be ready, now more than ever, to pursue their research."

At the International Arab Health Congress, that closes tomorrow (January 29), over 40 healthcare experts from the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australasia, are addressing critical medical issues and the latest advances in patient care, including eHealth; health management; the growing use of robots in surgery and the latest advances in the treatment of obesity and diabetes.

Both Arab Health 2003 and the Congress are being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and Industry and President Department of Health and Medical Services, Government of Dubai. Both events are officially supported by the UAE Ministry of Health.