The commemoration of the World AIDS Day 2018 in Egypt took place on Tuesday marking the 30th anniversary with the aim of encouraging people to check up their HIV infection status, and promoting the \u201cEnding AIDS 2030\u201d agenda among policy-makers. <\/p>\n
UNAIDS Country Manager Ahmed Khamis said \u201cthere are signs of a concentrated epidemic among key populations\u201d despite the low prevalence rate. <\/p>\n
Khamis added that some of those who do not realize their infection die. The slogan this year is \u201cknow, check up, we are with you.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cMedia support is needed to combat the virus,\u201d Khamis said praising the role of the government to fight the disease and provide treatment for patients. <\/p>\n
Representative of Preventive Medicine Sector at the Ministry of Health and Population Mohamed Abdel Fatah stated that \u201cEgypt is among the countries with the least HIV prevalence in the world at less than 0.02 percent.\u201d <\/p>\n
Abdel Fatah added that, within the prevention of mother-to-child transmission program implemented in all governorates, the ministry recorded a success rate of 100 percent in reaching non-infected children. <\/p>\n
The ministry launched the National HIV\/AIDS Program in 1986 being one of the first among the Arab countries, Abdel Fatah stated. The infection rate is less than for each 10,000 citizens, he added. <\/p>\n
National HIV\/AIDS Program Manager Walid Kamal revealed that 24 centers located in 18 Egyptian governorates offer \u201cHIV counseling services and anonymous confidential voluntary testing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kamal added that \u201cperiodical follow-up services are available at 14 care centers across the country.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kamal revealed that 80 percent of HIV infections in Egypt occur among males, and that it is prevalent among those who are in their twenties and early thirties. <\/p>\n
Kamal highlighted that more women must be encouraged to check-up, especially those who have partners having the disease. <\/p>\n
United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt Randa Abou al-Hassan stated that 25 percent (9.4 million) of HIV infected patients worldwide \u201care not aware of their status.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the availability of a wider array of HIV tools and strategies, the world is still profoundly off-track to end AIDS by 2030,\u201d Abou al-Hassan said citing inequality and social stigma as the main reasons. <\/p>\n
Abou al-Hassan stresses that HIV-infected women must receive equal social treatment which requires the efforts of all entities in charge. <\/p>\n
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV\/AIDS provides technical assistance and coordinate endeavors to end the disease. <\/p>\n
The UNODC provides support for prisoners and drug addicts to receive treatment and prevent the infection.<\/p>\n
Egypt Today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The commemoration of the World AIDS Day 2018 in Egypt took place on Tuesday marking the 30th anniversary with the aim of encouraging people to check up their HIV infection status, and promoting the \u201cEnding AIDS 2030\u201d agenda among policy-makers. UNAIDS Country Manager Ahmed Khamis said \u201cthere are signs of a concentrated epidemic among key […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":117643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[2484,44536,44537,44538],"class_list":["post-117642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-egypt","tag-unodc","tag-walid-kamal","tag-world-aids-day"],"yoast_head":"\n