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 A new programme has been announced to help fight HIV/AIDS in Afghanistan by tackling the stigma associated with the virus.
Two US organizations, John Hopkins University and Constella Futures, will use the $3million funding for biological and behavioural surveys.
Only 436 HIV+ cases have been recorded in Afghanistan over the last three years, yet the public health ministry estimates thousands may have the virus, according to Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) news service, which is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Saif-ur-Rehman, director of Afghanistan's HIV/AIDS control programme in Kabul told IRIN very few people access testing services because they fear the heavy stigma associated with HIV.
An un-named official told IRIN there are conservative MPs and government officials who believe people with HIV/AIDS should not be given health services. In a budget debate concerning the HIV/AIDS programme earlier this year, several MPs reportedly called people living with HIV/AIDS "criminals and adulterers who deserve death".
"We try to spread the message that people living with HIV/AIDS are not criminals and should not be discriminated against," Rehman told IRIN.
He said there is a "common misperception" that HIV/AIDS results solely from "illegitimate sexual relationships," yet in Afghanistan HIV prevalence among injecting drug users is three percent compared to zero percent among sex workers.
According to IRIN news service, no HIV+ person in Afghanistan has ever publicly disclosed his status.
Photo: A Drug addict injects heroin in the ruins of former Soviet cultural centre in Kabul Afghanistan, June 2008. According to the most recent UN figures in 2005, there are about one million addicts in a country of about 30 million people. © Manoocher Deghati/IRIN http://www.irinnews.org/
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