Dr Ihab Ahmed Abdel Rahman, manager of the National AIDS Programme (NAP) at the Ministry of Health and Population stressed that Egypt has one of the lowest rates of HIV infections in the world, not exceeding 0.02 percent. That translates to only two cases for every 10,000 citizens between 15 - 49 years of age.
Secifically, as of 31 March 3200 are living with HIV in Egypt, Dr Abdel Rahman said to Middle East News Agency, Egypt's official state news service, during the sixth conference for the African Ministers of Health held in Addis Ababa.
As for the total number of those living with AIDS in Egypt, according to both the Egyptian health ministry and the World Health Organisation, the estimation is around 9500 cases, which accounts also for one of the lowest rates worldwide. Furthermore, this rate not changed since 1986.
As for medical care, Abdel Rahman said that the ministry provides all patients with free medical services, including tests, follow-ups and medications, costing up to $8 million annually. In fact, until the end of March, 77 persons living with HIV in Egypt were receiving treatment completely free of charge.
The first case of HIV infection in Egypt was reported in the late '80s. According to the official NAP report published in 2008, the top reason for transmission of the disease (49 percent) was heterosexual intercourse and the most unusual reason was mother-child transmission, accounting for only 1.6 percent of the cases.
It was also noted in the same year that among homosexual male intercourse, the governorate of Alexandria topped other places in Egypt in terms of the number of people living with HIV.
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