Iran’s HIV problem, another regime’s breach of human rights standards, is among the other regime’s breaches of human rights standards.
Roughly 66,000 people in Iran have HIV and almost half of them are unaware, according to estimates by the Iranian Regime, but as the Regime routinely underreports statistics that make the country look bad, it is likely this number is much higher.
For instance, in 2009, the World Health Organisation estimated that there are over 100,000 AIDS sufferers in Iran out of an 80 million population. HIV develops into AIDS overtime, meaning that the number of HIV sufferers is likely much higher than 66,000.
According to the Tehran Times, the Iranian authorities blame the high HIV rates and low knowledge rates on public ignorance and stigma.
Parvin Afsar Kazerouni, head of the Health Ministry’s AIDS department, reports that over half of those living with HIV in Iran are aged 21 to 35, an age group represents about 28% of Iran’s population.
Infection
People contract HIV by being exposed to bodily fluids of an infected person but this can happen in a number of different ways; sharing needles, unsterilized hospital equipment, blood transfusions, tending to a wounded person if you have an open wound, etc.
However, the number of people contracting HIV via sexual contact has risen dramatically.
Dr Mohammad Mahdi Gouya, Iran’s deputy health minister, said: “If we look at five or six years ago, the rate of infection through sex was around 16% or 17%, to 20% at the most. Now it is up to 40% cent or even more in some provinces.”
Authorities’ Response to Iran’s HIV problem
Many within the Regime see this as the result of Iranian youth adopting a permissive Western lifestyle, such as accessing the internet and allowing couples to live together before getting married- a practice attacked by Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s chief of staff.
However, they neglect to mention that in the US, only 1 in 7 is unaware of their HIV positive status. The correct way to deal with HIV is through education (both sexual and medical) and prevention through the use of barrier contraceptives like condoms.
Homeira Fallahi, a senior advisor to the AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases department of the Health Ministry, said that the website hiv-sti.ir provides information about HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and the locations of 157 centres which provide free, confidential, HIV tests and counselling services, including seven that offer services to juveniles, but more needs to be done.
With the mullahs cracking down on a free and fair internet for their citizens, how many Iranians can actually access this site?
Considering that the Iranian Regime’s health care system is extremely underfunded because the Regime ploughs its money into terrorism and warfare, how can they be trusted to treat all Iranians for HIV when the mullahs consider it a ‘Western Disease’?
