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A new study has just found that there are alarmingly high rates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men across many countries inthe Middle East and North Africa. The prevalence of HIV among thesemen is at such a level that it is developing into an epidemic, and,because of their high-risk sexual behavior, they could be a majorfactor in the transmission of the disease in the area. The findings were a result of comprehensive review from a team ledby Laith Abu-Raddad and Ghina Mumtaz from the Infectious DiseaseEpidemiology Group at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Doha,Qatar. Their study, which was published in PLoS Medicine , was the first of it's kind to be carried out in the region. Whatthey found was, by analyzing a vast range of reports fromgovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, that there issignificant evidence showing that HIV is becoming ever more rampantamong men who have sex with men in the area. Considerably high levels of HIV prevalence among men who have sexwith men, of 5% or greater, were found in several countries, suchas Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan. A notably high case was Pakistan,with 28% infected with HIV. Whilst not all countries had datarevealing the HIV infection rate among their population of men whohave sex with men, it is apparent that there are many areas withconcentrated epidemics. For a lot of those concentrated areas analsex among men who have sex with men was said to account for over25% of reported cases. Whilst only 2-3% of men in the region were found to have sex withmen, it's their high-risk sexual behavior that attributes them tobeing such a pivotal risk group. Many of the men were found to havemultiple male and even female sexual partners. Un-protective sexamong these men was found to be incredibly common, with only a 25%rate of consistent condom use. And up to 75.5% of them were foundto be frequently engaging in acts of prostitution. Only a few of the countries in the region have developed a means ofdealing with this public health issue, through giving more power tonon-governmental organizations. The authors of the study stress that this kind of response - to the evident expansion of HIVepidemics among men who have sex with men - needs to be adopted byall policy-makers in the Middle East and North Africa. Byempowering non-governmental organizations there will be moreservices available to the minority population of men having sexwith men. The authors urged countries to seek ways that can reduce theseverity of the HIV epidemic and prevent the infection fromreaching other groups in the population. More thorough HIVsurveillance should be carried out in the regions, along with moreavailable access for testing. HIV treatment centers or services formen who have sex with men should be adopted as well. Written by Joseph Nordqvist Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Additional References Citations. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Raw Materials , Key Chain Charms for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Beaded Collar.
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