Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Over 8,000 AIDS cases in Saudi Arabia — official | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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RIYADH, (KUNA) — By the end of 2004, the number of persons infected by the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Saudi Arabia has reached 8,919 cases, which is a 10 percent increase, said Thursday a Saudi official.

In a statement to Al-Iqtisadiyah newspaper, Saudi Arabia Health Ministry”s Spokesperson Dr. Khaled Merghalani said 22.4 percent of the cases are Saudis in which 646 of them have passed away, while 6,915 of the cases were expatriates.

In the Middle-East, he explained, the number of cases has reached 1.5 million by the end of 2004, adding that the main reason for the infection is sexually related.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 40 million AIDS cases broken down into 17.6 million cases for women, three million cases for children and 37 million cases for individuals over 15 years of age.