Deputy Health Minister: 85,000 People in Iran Likely Infected with HIV

On the occasion of World AIDS Day, Iran's Deputy Health Minister announced that approximately "85,000 people" in Iran are likely infected with the HIV virus. He noted that there have been "28,633 registered cases" of infection, stating that HIV infection among injecting drug users has surpassed a "crisis level" and is also at a "crisis stage" among "women with high-risk sexual behaviors." According to the state news agency IRNA, Ali Akbar Sayyari said on Tuesday, December 1, at a conference for World AIDS Day, "While the trend of HIV infections is decreasing globally, this statistic is increasing in the Eastern Mediterranean region and Iran." He added, "Whenever the HIV prevalence line in a society reaches one percent, a widespread HIV epidemic occurs, but currently, 0.15% of individuals aged 15 to 60 in the country are infected with HIV, and we do not have an epidemic." Sayyari stated that the "level of HIV prevalence" is high in "certain groups," for example, the prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users is 15% and among "women with high-risk sexual behaviors" is 4.5%. He emphasized, "If five percent of the community is infected with HIV, it means that this disease has reached a crisis level; therefore, in terms of HIV among injecting drug users, we have surpassed the crisis level, and among women, we are at a crisis stage." On the 26th anniversary of December 1 being designated as World AIDS Day, the American newspaper "USA Today" reported that it is estimated that 34 million people worldwide are infected with the HIV virus, and 35 million have died from this disease. The Iranian Ministry of Health reported that the number of HIV-infected individuals in Iran in 2013 was 27,888, but alongside the official statistics from the Ministry of Health, various estimates of HIV patients in Iran have been published. Minu Mohraz, head of the AIDS Research Center, stated on September 28 that it is estimated that 100,000 people in Iran are infected with HIV. Masoud Mardani, a member of the National AIDS Committee, also mentioned on September 5, referring to the World Health Organization's prediction of 80,000 to 90,000 people infected with HIV in Iran, that about 70,000 of them either do not know about their infection or are hiding it. The Deputy Health Minister also stated that 45.5% of HIV transmission cases in 2013 were through injecting drug use, 36% through sexual relations, and 2.9% through mother-to-child transmission. According to Sayyari, 15 to 20% of injecting drug users use "one contaminated syringe" eight times and have "12 partners" annually. He announced the formulation of the fourth strategic AIDS program with the help of 52 researchers and the International AIDS Agency, while also stating that controlling the transmission chain of this virus in Iran is difficult due to "cultural limitations." The Deputy Health Minister emphasized, "Safe prevention tools must be provided for high-risk women and their partners; this is an issue that faces challenges in our society, but it is not impossible." Abbas Sadaqat, head of the AIDS department at the Ministry of Health, warned on Tuesday, October 23, about the changing pattern of HIV transmission through "unprotected sexual contact," stating that injecting among drug users remains the primary cause of HIV transmission in Iran. The Deputy Health Minister also mentioned, "Most HIV patients come from poor, unemployed, and trapped communities, so we need to work on social support for them." According to Sayyari, the monthly cost for each HIV patient in Iran is two million tomans, but if the disease becomes resistant, costs increase five to ten times. In this context, HIV infection among Iranian women has "accelerated." The latest "estimate" regarding HIV patients in Iran: 100,000 people. The cause of HIV infection among street children in Tehran was "rape" against them. New warnings about the "creeping growth of sexual HIV" in Iran.