Early in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, most predominantly Muslim countries regarded HIV as a disease associated with sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, and drug and alcohol use-behaviours forbidden by Islam. Home to more than 1-6 billion Muslims, the Islamic world was widely believed to be somehow protected against HIV/AIDS. Adherence to Islamic beliefs, together with widespread practice of male circumcision, was thought to protect against the risk of HIV infection, and subsequently to account for a comparatively low HIV prevalence in Muslim majority countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
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