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U.N. voices alarm about spread of HIV in Egypt

By NARIMAN EL-MOFTY, Associated Press
Published: December 4, 2017, 7:34pm
4 Photos
In this Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 photo, from left to right UNAIDS country manager Ahmed Khamis, Christian father Boulos Soror, Dr. Walid Kamal, Islamic scholar and Sheik Ali al-Jifri, and Tabah Foundation member Mohammed Shahin, prepare for an even part of the World AIDS Day 2017 national advocacy campaign at a hotel, in Cairo, Egypt. An alarming HIV epidemic is silently spreading in Egypt, with an annual growth of up to 40 percent and funds to deal with the crisis running out by next year, U.N. officials and activists say.
In this Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 photo, from left to right UNAIDS country manager Ahmed Khamis, Christian father Boulos Soror, Dr. Walid Kamal, Islamic scholar and Sheik Ali al-Jifri, and Tabah Foundation member Mohammed Shahin, prepare for an even part of the World AIDS Day 2017 national advocacy campaign at a hotel, in Cairo, Egypt. An alarming HIV epidemic is silently spreading in Egypt, with an annual growth of up to 40 percent and funds to deal with the crisis running out by next year, U.N. officials and activists say. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Photo Gallery

CAIRO — The U.N. is voicing alarm over the spread of HIV in Egypt, where the number of new cases is growing by up to 40 percent a year, and where efforts to combat the epidemic are hampered by social stigma and a lack of funding to address the crisis.

The virus that causes AIDS, U.N. officials say, is infecting more young and adolescent people than any other age group.

Egypt, home to some 95 million people, ranks behind only Iran, Sudan and Somalia in the Middle East for the rate at which the epidemic is spreading, according to U.N. figures. In Egypt, patients are often jailed on trumped-up charges and ostracized by society. The disease is associated with homosexuality, which is not explicitly illegal but is widely seen as a transgression against religion and nature in the conservative, Muslim-majority country.

“There is a 25-30 percent increase in incidents every year. … It’s is alarming to us because the growth of the epidemic and the discontinuation of interest from donors in funding,” Ahmed Khamis, of the U.N. AIDS agency, told The Associated Press.

Estimates of the number of people living with HIV in Egypt vary. UNAIDS says there are over 11,000 cases, while the country’s Health Ministry estimates the figure to be around 7,000.

The rise in the number of new infections, however, is not in dispute.

The virus can be spread through sexual contact, as well as contaminated needles or syringes, or blood transfusions. It can also be passed from infected women to their babies at birth or through breast-feeding. But in Egypt, the virus is widely associated with homosexuality, which is seen by many Egyptians as a lifestyle choice.

In a recent conference on AIDS, Islamic scholar and cleric Ali al-Jifri spoke about the stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV and AIDS patients. “A person diagnosed with HIV is a human. We should never question their diagnosis,” he told the conference.

A Christian priest, Bolous Soror, told the conference that Egyptians should accept others, regardless of their HIV status.

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