Sultanate among countries with least number of adult HIV cases

The Sultanate has been ranked one of the top ten countries in the world with the least number of HIV/Aids cases among adults. According to the latest 2017 UNAIDS statistics, covering 160 countries, the prevalence of HIV cases in the Sultanate is found to be 0.1 per cent. “This demonstrates the enormous gains the country has made in fighting the deadly epidemic,” the global agency said in its report.

According to the report, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have the lowest rates of HIV occurrence among adults.
“The decline in new HIV infections among adults have slowed in recent years, with the estimated annual number of new infections among adults remaining nearly static,” UNAIDS said in the report.

The low HIV prevalence among the general population in MENA is thought to be due to religious and cultural values, which discourage pre-marital sex, encourage married people to be faithful, and emphasise universal male circumcision, the report adds.
However, this is in contrast to sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest HIV prevalence rate among all regions with 7.1 per cent.

Adolescent girls and young women aged between 15 and 24 years are at particularly high risk of HIV infection, accounting for 20 per cent of new HIV infections among adults globally in 2015, despite accounting for just 11 per cent of the adult population in this region.

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