சவுதி அரேபியாவில் 80000 பேர் எய்ட்ஸால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர்

சவுதி அரேபியாவில் 80000 பேர்கள் எய்ட்ஸால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்கள். ஆனால் சவுதி அரசாங்கம், எண்ணிக்கையைச் சொன்னால், கேவலம் என்று நினைத்து ஆயிரம் பேர்தான் எய்ட்ஸால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்கள் என்று பொய் சொல்லுகிறது என்று சவுதி மருத்துவர்கள் அரசாங்கத்தை குறை கூறுகிறார்கள்.

சவுதி மக்கள் தொகை 27 மில்லியனாகும். அதாவது 0.33 சதவீதத்தினர் எய்ட்ஸால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளார்கள். இது இந்தியாவில் எய்ட்ஸால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளவர்களின் சதவீதத்தை விட அதிகமானது ஆகும்.

இந்தியாவில் 5 லட்சம் எய்ட்ஸ் நோயாளிகளின் எண்ணிக்கையிலிருந்து 3 லட்சமாக குறைந்துள்ளது. இது 0.03 சதவீதமாகும். ஆகவே சவுதி அரேபியாவில் இந்தியாவில் இருப்பதைவிட 10 மடங்கு அதிகமாக சவுதி அரேபியாவில் எய்ட்ஸ் பரவியுள்ளது.

ஒழுக்க சீர்கேட்டில் வாழும் மக்கள் திருந்தி, எய்ட்ஸ் அணுகாதவாறு குடும்ப வாழ்வு வாழ்ந்து நல்வழி பெற விரும்புவோம்.

Saudi Arabia Begins to Face Hidden AIDS Problem
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: August 8, 2006

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia —He lives virtually in hiding, his real life a secret from his family and some of his closest friends.

Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge this Image

Tamara Abdul Hadi for The New York Times
Rami al-Harithi, infected with H.I.V. in surgery, is a public advocate in ways that homosexuals cannot be.

Hostilities in the Mideast
Go to Complete Coverage »


Video

Surviving in Bourj al-Barajneh
Interactive Graphics

Attacks, Day by Day
Pummeling the Heart of Hezbollah Aid Convoy in Lebanon More Multimedia: Israel | Lebanon | Middle East
Tamara Abdul Hadi for The New York Times
Abdullah al-Hokail, a doctor at the country’s top AIDS treatment center, appears on TV regularly to explain the disease and preach safe sex.
Being gay in Saudi Arabia is hard enough. But for a growing number of Saudis like Feisal, middle-aged, gay and H.I.V.-positive, life is a tangle of regret and fear.

“You live in constant fear of being found out and attacked,” said Feisal, who spoke on condition that only his middle name be used, for fear of discrimination. “I’m sure a lot of people would think I deserve what I have if they knew about it.”

If not for a mixture of Saudi doctors, social workers and advocates for AIDS patients who have pushed the government to tackle the disease more openly and encouraged patients to fight for their rights, Feisal’s situation would be even more dire. But change is slowly taking place.

For years Saudi Arabia kept its growing AIDS problem hidden. Statistics on the disease were sealed in envelopes and guarded like national secrets. In mosques, imams spoke of AIDS as the “wrath of God” brought upon people who committed “sexual deviancy.”

Now, the government is opening up. In June, the Ministry of Health announced that more than 10,000 people in Saudi Arabia were H.I.V.-positive or had AIDS, including nearly 600 children. The numbers appear to show a significant increase in infection over 2004, when 7,800 cases were reported, and 2003, when 6,700 cases were reported.

Officials say that better reporting is the reason for the growing numbers. But many doctors say even the latest figures are off, with the real numbers likely to be far higher in this nation of 27 million people. One physician who has treated many patients who have been hiding their condition or were unaware of it estimated that the real number could be as high as 80,000.

Some years back, the government passed legislation protecting the privacy of people who were ill and guaranteeing their right to work, which provided some protection to AIDS patients. Saudi citizens with AIDS have also long had the right to free medical care, and today receive expensive anti-retroviral drugs without charge.

But the rights and protections are only for Saudi citizens. More than three-quarters of the reported H.I.V. cases are of foreign residents. Foreigners living here found to be H.I.V.-positive are typically imprisoned and then deported.

Fortunately for Feisal, he is a Saudi citizen. “I have to praise the government,” he said. “We get the drugs for free, the medical care for free, and the treatment is confidential.”

But Feisal said that nothing is being done to build acceptance of people with AIDS, much less homosexuality.

Indeed, the lingering challenge for most AIDS patients is their acceptance by society. Ever since the first case was diagnosed here in 1984, the disease has challenged social and religious taboos. Women began to be infected by their husbands, who contracted the disease on trips abroad and, increasingly, inside the country. Children, too, were born infected, and soon the numbers became hard to ignore.

In this highly conservative Muslim nation, where women are forbidden to drive and talk of sex is taboo, even traditional efforts at AIDS prevention face challenges. There is little talk of condom use and safe sex; outreach is focused on abstinence and fear of God.

A growing movement of AIDS patients, doctors and social workers is putting emphasis on teaching Saudis about the disease, though, to help AIDS patients live more normal lives. The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center here in the capital now holds regular public discussions on AIDS and how to live with it. Doctors like Abdullah al-Hokail, who has worked on AIDS at the hospital since the 1980’s, appears regularly on Saudi television to explain the effects of the disease and to preach safe sex.

“The main problem here is not the disease itself,” said Muneera al-Dahhan, a clinical counselor at King Faisal Hospital, the top AIDS treatment center in the country. “It is the tough view of society. People see this as the result of sexual behavior that is unacceptable in our society and are unable to accept it.”

Many other Muslim countries have begun similar programs after decades of underreporting incidence rates. Religious leaders long credited Islam and the region’s conservative culture, which forbids premarital sex, for the low incidence of AIDS. But most clinicians inside and outside the region long suspected that local health agencies were reporting incomplete numbers.

When Rami al-Harithi stood before television cameras at a commemoration of World Aids Day in the Saudi capital last year, he became one of the first AIDS patients to come out in the open.

மேலும்...