World Aids Day: Why the Middle East lags behind in fighting HIV

BBC
Dec 01, 2022

World Aids Day: Why the Middle East lags behind in fighting HIV


The number of new HIV cases worldwide has decreased significantly over the last decade - but in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), however, it is a different story.

The world has come a long way since the peak of the HIV/Aids epidemic - which has so far claimed more than 40 million lives - in 1996.

Between 2010 and 2021, the global number of new HIV infections has decreased by 32%.

Although the Mena region has the lowest HIV burden in the world, the number of new infections increased by 33% in that same period.