UAE | Health
Officials eye media for HIV education
Public health officials in the UAE depend on satellite television and the internet to tackle an issue they are afraid to do openly: HIV and Aids.
- By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 October 8, 2005
Public health officials in the UAE depend on satellite television and the internet to tackle an issue they are afraid to do openly: HIV and Aids.
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"We cannot educate people on using condoms because some will say we are teaching people, especially the young, to have sex outside marriage, which is against Islam," one official said.
He said official health education programmes in the UAE would only discuss condoms as a method of birth control for married couples.
He added that people in the UAE would get the rest of the information, such as safe sex methods, from the television and the internet.
"People already know through TV, satellite and internet. They get HIV education information from there," he said.
Even though he did not think HIV and Aids would reach epidemic proportions in the UAE, he admitted that nothing could take the place of frank discussions about the sexually-transmitted disease.
"It is important to talk and tell everyone so you can protect yourself," he said.
He added the UAE should follow the example of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, which have started to discuss the disease openly.
However, Dr Mahmoud Fikri, assistant undersecretary for preventive medicine at the ministry, denied that HIV and Aids were sensitive topics in the country.
"HIV is like any other disease, like any other viral disease, such as hepatitis," he told Gulf News. He also said HIV education in the country was adequate.
"We have programmes on World Aids Day," he said, turning down Gulf News's request for statistics on HIV and Aids in the UAE.
Two decades after HIV and Aids entered the mainstream consciousness, the UAE has not made official figures for the disease public even though health officials admit it exists in the country.
"No country in the world is free from the disease," said an epidemiologist with the Health Ministry.
"Some may not even know that they have it. They will only find out if they donate blood or are required to take a test," he added.
UAE laws require mandatory HIV testing for both UAE nationals and expatriates before they start working.
They also require HIV tests for nationals in school, before they enter university, get married, give birth and undergo surgery.
Nationals who test positive for HIV will be referred to the preventive medicine department for treatment and counselling, free of charge.
What is hiv?
Retrovirus attacks body's immune system
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which is a retrovirus that attacks the body's immune system, making it harder to fight off infection.
HIV is transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids, such as through sex, oral or otherwise, blood transfusions, the sharing of contaminated needles and from mother to her child through pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. When enough immune system cells, or T-cells are destroyed, Aids develops.
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