Minister warns Iran over soaring AIDS cases
Print Edition
The number of AIDS cases in Iran has soared over the past two decades, Health Minister Hassan Hashemi said yesterday, warning the Islamic republic cannot ignore the problem.
“This disease has increased by 80 percent annually, which is much higher than the rise in inflation or rents,” he said, quoted in Shahrvand newspaper.
Hashemi criticized Iran’s hush-hush policy on AIDS.
Extra-marital sex is strictly prohibited in Iran, punishable by whipping and imprisonment.
“The pattern has changed from transmission of the infection through drug injection to unprotected sexual intercourse,” Hashemi said.
“We need to find new ways to fight AIDS and we should not be afraid to admit this is a problem of our society.
“There was a time that AIDS was used ... to mock other societies, but now the entire world is struggling with this disease and we are no exception.”
Ali Sayyari, the deputy health minister, blamed the phenomenon on satellite TV programs, gyms and beauty salons, dubbed a “triangle of death.”
According to United Nations statistics, the number of people in Iran living with HIV reached 71,000 in 2012. Iran has moved to fight the spread of AIDS by making condoms easily available in shops and educating the public of the consequences of sex with multiple partners.
On Sunday, World AIDS Day, Iran unveiled plans to distribute AIDS leaflets in schools and special kits across the country to easily diagnose the disease.
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