EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HIV/AIDS IN IRAQ

Abstract

This work was carried out at the AIDS Researches and Studies Center and Medico Consulting Center (Ibn Zoher Hospital) in Baghdad from 1st June 2004 to 1st June 2005, by retrospective study of patients records, aiming to describe the epidemiological features of AIDS cases in Iraq and its prevalence The total number of patients was (247) which only represented the registered cases from (1986 up to 2005), The prevalence of disease was (0.00095 per 100.000) with evident preponderance of males (86.2%) and age group < 20 years was ( 34.8%) . Most of the patients were single (74.5%) ; married (23.5%), Patients' occupation were as follows : most of the cases are child (44.9%) followed by earner (29.1%), officers (14.2%) and lastly sex workers (0.4%), The patients were more in urban (95.1%) than in rural area (4.9%), The most common route of transmission was the parentral route (84.6%), then sexual route (11.3%) , The highest percentage of cases were diagnosed in phase (4):(84.6%). As declared that the number of cases were 247, only 64 patients are alive and the rest were dead. The study recommended : on-going surveillance of all risk groups, health education campaign using different mass media particularly targeting high-risk groups and highly prevalent areas, ensuring safety of donated blood and blood products by proper screening for HIV/AIDS provision of effective antenatal care for early detection and active management of pregnant women and their babies, provision of diagnostic facilities and active antiretroviral drugs in addition to increasing staff efficiency by regular training courses.