AIDS in Iran

We already passed World AIDS Day so just I wanted to review AIDS/HIV history in Islamic non-Republic Iran. Despite our religious fanatic non-sense Islamic-clergy disvalues which has been required huge denial on stats about HIV, drug, prostitution and anything that prove Islamic Iran is anything but an Islamic heaven! A heaven that a couple of sick humankind have created a long time ago to get away with all functional and dysfunctional problems that we have already seen on the earth. The promise of non-existence for unable human mind is full of pleasure specially if you're a Muslim. No offence, but isn't it that you believe in? aren't you waiting for heaven? anyhow, I am not going to write about heaven because just I believe the world that I am living in already is something close to hell which I am sure smart humankind could make it heaven, but we didn't so far!



Islamic state denial on AIDS in Iran goes back from the beginning of the disease to 1984 but in 1984-1985 about 5 percent of hemophiliac patients became HIV positive after being given clotting agents containing the virus so government allowed it goes public. back then it was an order not to disclose any information about AIDS with people and everything was under control of Intelligence Service in Iran.



Can you just imagine there were not enough knowledge and education about the disease so without even knowing that such thing exist, how could individuals take care of themselves? so to speak, it spread itself in young Iranian society. The Iranian Ministry of Health reports that almost 16,000 are infected. This number is just identified infected people who have had the knowledge to talk about their disease or some of them by chance through blood tests, got identify. Real numbers are far from this, most people afraid even to talk about it to doctors. there is fear of prosecution, confinement or even force hospitalization. Unfortunately society didn't get right education at the time that it needed most.



The other form of spreading AIDS was through sharing of needles by intravenous drug users which is mostly popular in prisons. well, there is not enough needles and lots of drugs, so they do share needles. anybody cares?! Islamic government just want everybody dead. There is an estimated more than 200,000 people shooting drugs in Iran so there should be a concern about future high AIDS patients.



I don't want to distract you but just imagine you're political prisoner and for more torture, they confine you between criminals instead of political prisoners. These bunch of people, with force, inject drugs with infected needles, so you're infected with HIV and you know, the future holds nothing for you. They kill hope and you have nothing more to disagree with. it has been one of this regime practices.



where I was? hmmm, although prostitution is illegal in Iran but it is there and nobody can stop it. Times to times they try to crack down but eventually the day after it is on the streets. Economic conditions have exacerbated problems, there is an steady increasing Divorce rates and late marriage in Iran. Well with under-30 crowd who make up 70 percent of Iran's population who they were born right before or shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and they have not touch that strict Islamic rules with this regime so they don't care for Islamic rules, having sexual intimacy and out of Islamic boundaries is so acceptable. On the other hand, using condoms is not much popular even though having multiple sexual partners is not odd, including prostitutes. and consider sex is still a taboo subject. with all that said people are in an increasing risk of infection.



Everybody in Islamic regime know that HIV threats Iranian young generation but there is sickening silence on this issue. At the meantime, they should create awareness campaigns and inform people about disease, transmission and prevention routes and etc. so it stops discrimination against AIDS patients and hopefully it helps unidentified patients in traditional Iranian society can approach to doctors, family, friends and talk about their problem.



Still I hope for that day.