Ukraine, Egypt explore preferential trade deal: Zelenskyy    Egypt, Russia's Rosatom review grid readiness for El-Dabaa nuclear plant    Mastercard Unveils AI-Powered Card Fraud Prevention Service in EEMEA Region, Starting from Egypt    Global tour for Korean 'K-Comics' launches in Cairo with 'Hellbound' exhibition    China's factory output expands in June '25    Egyptian pound climbs against dollar at Wednesday's close    New accords on trade, security strengthen Egypt-Oman Relations    Egypt launches public-private partnership to curb c-sections, improve maternal, child health    Gaza under Israeli siege as death toll mounts, famine looms    EMRA, Elsewedy sign partnership to explore, develop phosphate reserves in Sebaiya    Philip Morris Misr announces new price list effective 1 July    Egypt Post discusses enhanced cooperation with Ivorian counterpart    Egypt's Environment Minister calls for stronger action on desertification, climate resilience in Africa    Egypt in diplomatic push for Gaza truce, Iran-Israel de-escalation    Egypt teams up with private sector to boost university rankings    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Egypt condemns deadly terrorist attack in Niger    Egypt, Tunisia discuss boosting healthcare cooperation        Egypt's EHA, Schneider Electric sign MoU on sustainable infrastructure    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Grand Egyptian Museum opening delayed to Q4    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Egypt discovers three New Kingdom tombs in Luxor's Dra' Abu El-Naga    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Egypt AIDS program: less than 2,000 patients in history
Published in Bikya Masr on 09 - 08 - 2010

CAIRO: Egypt's top national program to combat the spread of AIDS in the country has said that less than 2,000 cases have been reported in the country since the first case was reported in 1986. Mervat al-Husseini, an advisor to the National Program to Combat AIDS, said that the total number of AIDS patients in Egypt through the end of 2009 is 1,950.
She added that Cairo and Alexandria have reported the highest numbers since 1986.
During the “Right of People Living with HIV” conference last month, Husseini said that “this ration is small in Egypt in the presence of 70 million people,” pointing out that Egypt has many, unexplored cases “where there are certainly people who we've dealt with but do not know and there is an unjustified fear of the disease because we do not know about them [people].”
In recent years, Egyptian security forces have arrested people living with AIDS and have detained them indefinitely. Hussein argued that society must come to terms with the disease and information must be spread to educate the population further.
She argued there is a “lack of awareness of the community of the nature fo the transmission of the disease, as the transmission is confined to only three ways: either a sexual relationship, from a pregnant mother to her son or from contaminated needles.”
The national program has attempted to establish publicity for available treatments, Husseini told the conference. She said the most important thing a patient can do is to “deal with the disease, since it is a chronic disease such as Diabetes and blood pressure, where there is no cure yet discovered, but it is possible to stop the spread of the virus.”
Experts have reported that those suffering from HIV can live full and healthy lives as long as the appropriate cocktail of drugs are taken and the patient maintains diligence to fight the spread of the virus.
At a separate meeting, another advisor, Adel Malek, said that Egypt is one of the countries with the lowest rate of HIV/AIDS infections in the Middle East. He reported the spreading of the disease is no more than 0.02 percent of the population.
He stressed during a training course organized on the sidelines of Suzanne Mubarak's Regional Center for Health and Women Development in Alexandria.
“Egypt has achieved great success in combating the spread of the disease,” Malak said, adding that “the government's efforts in achieving the goals contained in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV for universal access to prevention, care, support and treatment, has been superb.”
He echoed Husseini's calls for awareness campaigns to take place in Egypt to contain the virus before it is able to spread to a greater percentage of the population. The national program, he said, is especially concerned with young people, women and health providers who can help prevent the spread of the virus.
He stressed the importance of surveillance for the spread of HIV and the prevention of transmission from an infected mother to the child and the provision of preventive doses of medicine to be used immediately after exposure, care and support for people living with the disease and to fight against the “stigmatization and discrimination of people living with the disease.”
He called for the provision of health advice for people most at risk of being exposed to AIDS in order to reduce the disease and “the alleviation of complications in addition to providing various alternatives of the diet of the newborn child by a mother infected with the virus and publicize the seriousness of breast milk of women infected in transmitting the infection to her baby.”
Malek said there is a need to strengthen information and “skills development” for doctors in the care of pregnant mothers infected with HIV, pointing to the need to profile groups at the “highest risk for HIV infection and to shed light on the rates of HIV infection globally, regionally and locally.”
BM


Clic here to read the story from its source.