UAE analyses HIV policies to plan national strategy

Dubai: The UAE has started analysing its HIV/Aids policies, and identifying their weaknesses and strengths in the hope of formulating a five-year national strategy on the infectious disease.

Officials from governmental agencies, including the health, education and labour ministries, and international organisations, including the Red Crescent Authority, UNAIDS and UNDP met yesterday to discuss the current HIV/Aids situation in the country.

Dr Nada Al Marzouqi, head of the UAE HIV Committee at the health ministry, told Gulf News that the workshop was the first of many steps they needed to formulate a national response to the infectious disease.

"We are discussing the first draft of the analysis, finding out what each group is doing to prevent HIV/Aids [such as] the Labour Ministry on employment options for people with HIV and the Education Ministry on school awareness programmes," she said, adding that the findings of the workshop would be made public at a later date.

She said the workshop was not a one-time deal as the committee would continue to monitor and analyse the HIV/Aids situation in the UAE.

Other steps include starting the framework for the strategy, formulating the action plan and putting in the available resources to enforce the plan, she added.