Aids: Oman ranked in low-risk category

Oman has been found to have a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS by international health agencies.

Oman's Ministry of Health (MOH) set up the national programme for the control of HIV/AIDS and STI two decades ago.

With over 50 per cent of its population under the age of 20, Oman is dedicated to working with its youth to ensure that they have the knowledge, skills and confidence to protect themselves and others from this epidemic.

"Reaching out to the youth is a daunting task. It demands adoption of innovative strategies and the ability to think and speak the language that the youth understand and value the most," said Dr Ali Ahmed Ba Omar, Head, HIV/AIDS and STI Prevention.

In contrast to other countries in the region, Oman has adopted a transparent stance on the matter by releasing information on the prevalence and magnitude of the HIV/AIDS problem here. The ministry, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS, has embarked on a series of initiatives to reach out to the youth and break the silence surrounding HIV/AIDS, address stigma and discrimination and build young people's participation in fighting the epidemic.

A three-member mission from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) recently visited Oman. The mission comprised Dr George Oinita, HIV/AIDS Adviser at the Unicef Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, Dr Hala Abou Taleb, UNAIDS Intercountry Technical Adviser for the Middle East and North African Region and Elias Aaraj, WHO-UNAIDS Consultant.

Along with an evaluation of the peer education programme that was initiated by MOH and WHO last year, the mission also laid out strategic plans for an Information Centre to promote and expand access to youth-friendly health services.

"The centre would provide hotline services and information, access to voluntary and confidential HIV counselling and testing in a bid to lower the vulnerability of Omani children and young people at particularly high risk of HIV infection," said Dr Ba Omar.

"Through this documentation and service centre, we intend to reach out to Omani youth who are thoroughly informed about HIV/AIDS and who have full opportunities to learn the life skills that are key to avoiding risky behaviour," said Dr Oinita.

To facilitate this hotline service, six Omani youth were recently trained as hotline operators in Cairo.

"The added attraction for the youth is that, through this centre, they could seek out answers to their queries related to HIV/AIDS without disclosing their identities as well as receive counselling and testing services, if required," stated Dr Oinita.

Over a year old now, the peer education programme has been able to garner a fairly large response from the school students.

Along with the 90-plus young peer educators, nearly 400 scouts and guides have also received HIV/AIDS training to disseminate factual information to their peers.

Following the "education sessions" held with their peers in schools, the peer educators have been able to collate data from around 2,000 school students spread across the country. The data collected by the peer educators trained under the UNAIDS programme was reviewed during the one-day workshop held last week at the Institute of Health Sciences, Muscat.