The Rate of Women Infected with AIDS in Iran has Increased Tenfold

Minoo Mohraz, head of the AIDS Research Center, stated that the Ministry of Health does not announce provincial statistics of AIDS patients, and due to the change in the method of virus transmission, the rate of women infected with this disease in Iran has increased tenfold. In an interview with the Arman newspaper on Tuesday (December 1), Ms. Mohraz mentioned that the pattern of AIDS virus transmission in Iran is shifting from 'drug use methods to sexual contact.' She noted that 'in the past, when drug abuse was the main mode of transmission,' men constituted 96 percent of AIDS patients, but currently 'this statistic has changed to 81 percent men and 19 percent women.' The head of the AIDS Research Center warned that this change in pattern has led to an increase in the number of children infected with AIDS in Iran, and one of the methods to prevent the birth of such children is 'sterilization.' This official announced that the official number of AIDS patients in Iran is 30,000 and added that considering 'estimated statistics,' there are currently about 90,000 people living with HIV in the country. In another part of the conversation, Ms. Mohraz referred to the Ministry of Health's reluctance to announce detailed statistics of AIDS patients in each province. According to the head of the AIDS Research Center, the Ministry of Health had previously published detailed statistics once, but 'due to significant differences between provinces and the reactions of provincial officials, it was decided that statistics would be announced generally and at the national level.' According to Ministry of Health officials, the number of AIDS virus patients in Iran increases every year, and the share of 'high-risk sexual relations' in the increase of this disease is becoming more pronounced day by day. On December 4 of this year, Reza Fadaei, head of infectious diseases at the Isfahan Health Center, stated that 'close to half of the registered AIDS cases in 2014 in Isfahan province were through sexual contact.' On December 9, Ali Akbar Haqdoust, head of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, warned of a third wave of AIDS transmission through 'sexual relations' in this province. Mr. Haqdoust stated that 'the spread of AIDS through the third wave, or sexual relations, has surpassed the second wave, which was through drug injections, and this is a serious warning for society.' He added that 'most AIDS patients in the first and second waves were men, but in the third wave, the disease is moving towards equalization and even an increase in women infected with HIV.' AIDS has been named the sixth deadliest disease in the world by the World Health Organization, which has designated December 1 (December 10) as World AIDS Day.