Starting next year, all pregnant Iranian women will be tested for AIDS

The head of the AIDS department of the Ministry of Health announced that starting next year, all pregnant Iranian women will be tested for HIV. According to the IRNA news agency, Parvin Afser Kazerooni announced on Saturday, November 18, that the prevention program for the transmission of AIDS from mother to child began in some provinces of Iran in 2014, and HIV tests have been conducted on pregnant mothers in these provinces with their consent. HIV positive refers to individuals in whom the AIDS virus has been identified. If treated promptly, some individuals who are HIV positive may not progress to AIDS and can live a normal life with controlled virus levels. Meanwhile, the head of the AIDS department stated that starting treatment for HIV-positive mothers reduces the likelihood of transmission to the fetus, which is about 35 to 40 percent, to less than two percent. According to Ms. Kazerooni, over 93 percent of children born to mothers who were under care and treatment in this program were born healthy. She announced that since 2015, 74 pregnant women who were unaware of their HIV/AIDS status have been identified and put under care. This health official did not mention the number of children who contracted HIV from their mothers. Ms. Kazerooni had previously stated that 1.5 percent of AIDS cases in Iran occur through mother-to-child transmission. Meanwhile, the secretariat of the national AIDS working group reported that in recent years, the number of children infected with this virus has increased due to the rising number of women with HIV. According to these reports, although the number of children infected with this virus is 'not large,' the transmission of this virus from mother to child can become 'problematic' without prevention. According to Iran's AIDS control program, the incidence of HIV infection in infants born to HIV-positive mothers should be reduced by 90 percent by the end of 2019. However, Homayoun Hashemi, a member of the Health Commission of the Parliament, stated on Tuesday, September 10, that statistics from 2016 and 2017 indicate a 30 percent increase in mother-to-child transmission of AIDS. Health Ministry officials have also repeatedly stated that AIDS among women and transmission of this virus through sexual relations have increased in recent years. According to estimates, over 66,000 people in Iran are living with AIDS, of which about 35,000 have been identified. Of the 34,949 identified patients, 84 percent are men and 16 percent are women. Minoo Mohraz, head of the AIDS Research Center, stated in 2014 that it is estimated that 100,000 people in Iran are infected with AIDS, but official Ministry of Health statistics indicate that 30,000 cases have been identified in the country. In the same year, Masoud Mardani, a member of the national AIDS committee, noted the World Health Organization's prediction that 80,000 to 90,000 people in Iran are living with AIDS, stating that about 70,000 of them are either unaware of their infection or are hiding it. In recent years, the Alai brothers, who founded the new triangular clinic program for preventing AIDS and HIV, have been imprisoned on charges of 'overthrowing' the government. Following this action, over 3,100 doctors, nurses, and several pioneers in the fight against AIDS worldwide, including Sir Richard Roberts, a Nobel Prize winner in medicine, signed a letter calling for the release of the Alai brothers.