AIDS in Iran

Rooz Online:

The International Day in observance of the AIDs problem just passed us last week. In Iran, a number of social and cultural organizations invited people to gather in order to draw the attention of government officials to the problem and take serious measures to fight this worldwide menace. The gathering is aimed at providing Iranians with information on AIDS and the HIV virus that causes it, methods of prevention, and creating sensitivity in the government and the people on the epidemy of the disease, reviewing the rights of HIV positives in the country.

Based on the latest statistics, there are 11,930 Iranians infected with the HIV virus. These figures indicate a 100% growth since the last Iranian year. A government official has said that 1,377 AIDS patients died last year, while another 539 are in critical condition. Many observers believe that since the disease broke into the country, the Iranian officials had been unwilling to publish the real statistics on those impacted due to political considerations. Many infection specialists have seriously warned that the country is on the verge of an AIDS epidemic. READ MORE

The first case of AIDS in Iran was seen in 1987 when a hemophilic infant needed blood transfusion. Later, specialists discovered that a large number of individuals that had received blood products were infected with HIV, the AIDS virus. Despite the complaint of 1,100 infected patients, officials pushed the issue under the rug and denied the problem. Official statistics indicate that the number of AIDS infected patients reached 40 in less than a year, in 1988. Based on official statistics released late in 2002, Iran had 7,200 registered infected patients. One year later, the figure jumped to 11,930, which equals the total number of AIDS infected patients for the last 16 years. Ninety five percent of those infected are men and only five percent are women.

Many experts believe that even these shocking figures of 11,930 HIV positive cases published by the Ministry of Health do not portray the real picture and tragedy. Minoo Mohraz, a member of the committee to combat AIDs warns that by most conservative counts, there are an estimated 60,000 infected patients in Iran, with many HIV positive individuals still in hiding.

AIDS experts believe that specific social classes are more exposed to AIDS while government officials believe that the infected syringe is the main cause and transmitter of the disease. A number of government officials and the Majlis (Parliament) have warned that presenting true figures to the public would alert people to the problem, forcing the government to take serious actions to tackle the disease.