RESEARCHER DESCRIBES HIV/AIDS SITUATION IN IRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RPO DUBAI 000329

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/12/2019
TAGS: PGOV SOCI ECON KHIV IR
SUBJECT: RESEARCHER DESCRIBES HIV/AIDS SITUATION IN IRAN

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CLASSIFIED BY: Timothy Richardson, Acting Director, Iran
Regional Presence Office, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: An Iranian HIV/AIDS researcher in Dubai applying
for a visa sat down with IRPO to discuss the HIV/AIDS situation
in Iran. Less than 1 percent of the Iranian population is
infected, though developing accurate statistics is difficult
because the leading causes of HIV/AIDS in Iran, intravenous drug
use and sexual conduct, are hidden from public view. The
Iranian government is supportive of HIV/AIDS research and
efforts to prevent its spread, but focuses much more on
preventing transmission via intravenous drug use and limits the
ability of healthcare workers to address infection via sexual
conduct. In general, the researcher supported the government's
efforts but recognized that if HIV/AIDS in Iran becomes more
prevalent, the government will need to do more. End summary.




2. (C) The researcher is an associate professor at Tehran
University Medical School and is the research manager at the
Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, the IRIG's only such
facility dedicated solely to HIV/AIDS research.



HIV/AIDS in Iran

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3. (C) According to the researcher, less than 1 percent of
Iran's population is HIV/AIDS positive. (Comment: A 2008 UN
report placed the number of cases in Iran in 2007 at between
67,000 and 110,000.) The researcher breaks the population into a
high-risk segment and a low-risk segment. Intravenous drug
users and those with multiple sex partners constitute the
high-risk cohort. The low-risk group includes those that have
low rates of intravenous drug use, such as mothers but also,
surprisingly, truckers and sailors. Generating an accurate
picture of HIV/AIDS among the high-risk group is difficult
because their risk factors (drug use and sex) is hidden from
public view and as a result, the researcher uses infection rates
among the low-risk group to gauge when HIV/AIDs in on the rise.
Rates of HIV/AIDS are higher in urban areas, but the disease is
also present in rural areas. He blames the prevalence of
HIV/AIDS on the country's social and economic mismanagement,
suggesting that the political problems and chronic issues like
unemployment make Iranian youth inclined to turn to drugs.




4. (C) Of those that have contracted HIV/AIDs, roughly 60
percent are intravenous drug users, a figure he said that is
comparable to the rest of the world. Government statistics
attribute about 20 percent of HIV/AIDS to sexual contact and
list another 20 percent as unknown, although he presumes that
all of these latter cases also contracted HIV/AIDs via sexual
contact. By his estimate, fewer than 5 percent of cases resulted
from blood transfusions or via mother-infant transmission.
(Note: These numbers add up to over 100 percent; he was
attempting to give his own rough estimates rather than provide
precise numbers.)



IRIG Attitudes toward HIV/AIDS Prevention

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5. (C) The researcher described the government as very
supportive of research into HIV/AIDS and efforts to prevent its
spread. However, as he elaborated, it became evident that the
IRIG supports efforts to prevent infection via drug use but, due
to religious sensitivities, is less willing to address the role
of sexual contact. He claimed that Iran's HIV/AIDS drug addict
research programs are some of the largest and most prominent in
the world. He commended government-sponsored programs in
prisons, clinics, and health centers to move intravenous drug
users to inhaled drugs. Many clinics, including his own, also
give clean syringes to drug addicts and such programs are not at
all controversial.




6. (C) Efforts to educate the public about HIV/AIDS transmission
via sexual contact are constrained. The government does not
allow his research center to discuss the relationship between
sexual contact and HIV/AIDS with high school students. And
although a few health clinics are allowed to distribute condoms,

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they are only allowed to provide them to HIV/AIDS infected
persons. Politics also appears to play a role; the researcher
said there was greater "space" to educate Iranians under former
President Khatami than exists now with President Ahmadinejad.
At the same time, the researcher expected that if the HIV/AIDS
worsens in Iran, the government will adjust and allow more
openness out of necessity.



Open to International HIV/AIDS Cooperation

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7. (C) The researcher said his center works closely with
international programs, including the World Health
Organization's (WHO) office in Iran and the UN Aids Iran office.
The WHO has plans to form an official partnership with his
center in the future and to eventually make the center a
"knowledge hub" and train other (presumably international)
HIV/AIDS researchers there. Currently, his research center is
training and sharing knowledge with clinics and treatment
centers in Afghanistan. And exchanges and affiliations with
U.S. institutions also exist. The researcher will be attending a
research seminar this fall at UC San Francisco.



Comment

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8. (C) Iran's inability to fully address the spread of HIV/AIDS
reflects the country's broader development challenges. Religious
conservatism, as well other entrenched interests, limit the
IRIG's range of available policy options -- in this case largely
preventing healthcare workers from tackling one of the key
drivers of new HIV/AIDS infections, sexual conduct. That said,
our interlocutor was optimistic that if HIV/AIDS in Iran becomes
worse, government policy would become more pragmatic.
RICHARDSON