Implementing AIDS Prevention and Care (IMPACT) Project in Middle East and North Africa Region. Final Report

摘要

Between 2005 and 2007, FHI/Egypt focused its skills and abilities on reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Activities were conducted under the Implementing AIDS Prevention and Care Project (IMPACT), funded by the United States Agency for International Development/Asia Near East Bureau (USAID/ANE). The decision to work in MENA was instrumental in bringing attention to efforts to stop the spread of HIV. Despite a lack of quality HIV surveillance data in MENA, the HIV epidemic in the region is generally assumed to be in a nascent stage of development. Existing data suggest that HIV is expanding in traditional high-risk groups, though in some countries there is nosocomial transmission related to unsafe blood practices in healthcare settings. Of particular concern is the risk of HIV infection among injection drug users (IDUs), particularly in Bahrain, Libya and Iran; more than 90 percent of documented HIV infections in Libya and Iran are IDU related. IDU-related HIV has also been reported in Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and Tunisia. Less is known about the HIV status of sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM) due to high levels of stigma.