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North Africa and the Middle East
There were an estimated 550,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in North Africa and the Middle East at the end of 2002, according to UNAIDS, although it considers surveillance systems to be inadequate to be very confident about such estimates. An estimated 37,000 people died from AIDS in 2002 and 83,000 people were newly infected. Women constitute 55% of the infected adult population.
HIV/AIDS arrived late in these regions and infection rates remain at very low levels in most countries, however, in several places HIV infection rates are increasing and denial of the problem among social and political leaders in some countries may provide the epidemic with an ideal environment for continued growth.
Systematic surveillance remains inadequate, making it very difficult to deduce accurate trends in many countries. It is possible that hidden epidemics could be spreading in this region. Better surveillance systems (such as those introduced in Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) will enable more countries to accurately track the development of the epidemic and mount more effective responses.
The worst affected countries are;
Sudan
There are an estimated 140,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, or 0.99% of the adult population.
United Arab Emirates
There are an estimated 2,300 people living with HIV/AIDS, or 0.18% of the adult population.
Algeria
There are an estimated 11,000 people living with HIV, or 0.07% of the adult population. A local study of HIV among pregnant women revealed 1% to be HIV positive.
Iran
In Iran, most HIV transmission is occurring among the country’s estimated 200,000–
300,000 injecting drug users, about 1% of whom are believed to be living with HIV. High-risk behaviour is widespread in this largely male population: about half of the users share injecting equipment, and as many are believed to have extramarital sex. According to some estimates, a significant percentage (more than 30%) of them are married. Yet condom use remains very rare.
An estimated 10% of prisoners in Iran are believed to inject drugs and more than 95% of them share needles. HIV prevalence among imprisoned drug injectors was 12% in 2001.