The prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is relatively low in Qatar, though officials estimate many undiagnosed patients are living in the country.
Taking the lower frequency as an advantage, Qatar is also looking forward for the best ways to combat the disease as most countries afflicted with the HIV positive people are those who were late to confront it.
In the year 2010 six new people have been diagnosed with HIV making a total of 85 living with the infection in Qatar.
“Still 2001 there were 187 people with HIV, from then it was with an average of 10 cases per year. Last year 5 were diagnosed and this year its 6 cases,” said Dr Abdul Latif Al Khal, Chairman of Medicine Department In Hamad Medical Corporation and Head of Infectious Diseases Division and Head of Communicable Diseases Clinic. “Since 1985 we have diagnosed 253 cases, among them 124 were Qatari and 129 non Qatari people. Half of them are dead and 85 are still living with HIV and living in Qatar. We estimate there are about 100 to 300 cases that are infected with HIV and living in Qatar without diagnose,” he said at an awareness seminar held for school students at the Supreme Council of Health, yesterday.
Many high schools and secondary schools attended the seminar, held to educate and give necessary knowledge for the students to decrease the stigma against HIV positive people, supporting this year’s theme for this year is Universal Access and Human Rights, for the world Anti HIV day commemorated today.
The theme meaning access to prevention and treatment should be available to all people living with HIV as it’s their basic human rights, with the viral transformed from chimps to human in Cameron in Congo 75 years before. “What we are trying is to put the students with necessary knowledge and skills to reduce the stigma they may have against the HIV positive people,” said Dr Khal.
Most of the new cases diagnosed in Qatar are youth between the age of 18 and 35, and are mostly infected through sexual intercourse. Only a few have been diagnosed for being infected through sharing needles injecting drugs. The possibility of getting the disease from pregnant mothers to children is completely protected as all pregnant mothers are checked for HIV.
Screening of blood products for HIV has largely eliminated transmission through blood transfusions or infected blood products in Qatar as well as the developed world. A total of 33.3 million people live with HIV all over the world. In the year 2009 alone 2.6 million people were diagnosed of HIV positive. Most untreated people infected with HIV eventually develop AIDS.
These individuals mostly die from opportunistic infections or with the progressive failure of the immune system. HIV progresses to AIDS at a variable rate affected by viral, host, and environmental factors; most will progress to AIDS within 10 years of HIV infection.
Foreigners in Qatar who apply for a residential permit will have to undergo HIV test. The person will be deported if proven HIV positive. However, if the person gets infected while being a resident he will be treated within the country.
Treatment with anti-retrovirals increases the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. Even after HIV has progressed to diagnosable AIDS, a person can live a normal life for many years with proper and continues medication.
Fazeena Saleem
The peninsula