UAE | Health
HIV/Aids awareness plan to target labourers
Health officials in the emirate are targeting labourers, a segment of population deemed at risk of HIV/Aids, for an awareness programme on the infectious disease.
- By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:55 February 3, 2008
Dubai: Health officials in the emirate are targeting labourers, a segment of population deemed at risk of HIV/Aids, for an awareness programme on the infectious disease.
According to the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and malaria, a majority of young people with HIV in South Asian countries, which supply Gulf countries with most of the labour, were infected when they were in the Gulf and deported.
Dr Kamal Faour, co-chair of the International Union against Sexually-Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) Congress and head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Maktoum Hospital, told Gulf News the programme would begin after the congress finished.
"We are going into the factories [to educate the labourers]. We are getting an Indian movie on HIV/Aids from the Indian consulate to show the labourers," he said.
According to the 2006 census, men outnumber women by almost a third in the UAE, due to the number of ongoing construction projects in the country. The high cost of living has also caused many residents to send their wives and children home.
Dr Frank Judson, a consultant with the US Centres for Disease Control, told the press that lonely, single men were a potential risk factor for HIV as they were more vulnerable to risky behaviours.
"The high bachelor rate is a potential risk for HIV/Aids transmission."
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