Jordan Times
Sunday, January 25, 1998
The silent plight of AIDS patients in Jordan
By Hind-Lara Mango
AMMAN - Many of Jordan's AIDS patients are secretly battling the
killer virus in a conservative society that has long shunned
them.
Local doctors supervising victims of the Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV) that causes AIDS say many of their patients lead
miserable lives because they cannot even tell families of their
infection with the global epidemic, mainly acquired through blood
transfusions, sharing drug needles and sexual intercourse.
In many cases, psychiatrists and the National Committee for AIDS
Prevention and Control (NCAPC) are the only ones to know about
their plight.
"We have had some very nasty reactions in the past when an
AIDS victim attempted to tell family members," said
psychiatrist Walid Sarhan.
In one incident, medical staff at a local hospital refused to
treat a dying Jordanian AIDS patient who had come from France to
see his family.
"When he went to the hospital to be given the necessary
injection, the nurses and doctors panicked and refused to
help," said Dr. Sarhan.
The first case of AIDS in Jordan was discovered in 1986. Since
then, a total of 174 AIDS cases have been registered, according
to Sa'id Kharabsheh, a member of the NCAPC. Men accounted for 136
cases and women for 38.
Doctors say Jordan's AIDS pattern also changed over the past
years despite strict social adherence to religious teachings that
ban pre-marital sex as well as homosexuality.
"Unlike in the past, when the HIV virus in Jordan was mainly
transmitted through blood transfusions, patients are now
acquiring it through drug use as well as homosexual and
heterosexual activities," Dr. Sarhan said.
"Prostitution, casual sex, and sexual intercourse with
multiple partners are all means by which AIDS is being
transmitted now," he added.
"Like everywhere else in the world, we have an open gay
community here," Dr. Sarhan explained.
According to Dr. Sarhan, most of the AIDS patients he has treated
have had multi-faceted experiences. "They have had multiple
sexual experiences, have practised homosexuality, and are drug
addicts."
Although the AIDS curve had been steady for the last ten years,
drug addiction, made possible by rapid social changes and greater
openness, was causing the AIDS rate to "shoot up."
Dr. Sarhan said he believed that the number of gay AIDS patients
will remain stable in the future as "this community is
practising its own means of prevention".
Officials believe there is a dire need for providing a support
system for aids patients and their families to enable them to
cope with AIDS, which has became a social, economic and health
problem.
"We try to control the social breakdown that involves
AIDS," said Dr. Kharabsheh.
He added that the NCAPC was pushing for a protocol for the
treatment of HIV/AIDS cases in Jordan.
According to Dr. Kharabsheh, head of the Ministry of Health's
Department for Disease Control and Prevention, 102 of the total
registered AIDS cases in Jordan involved locals while the
remaining 72 were non-Jordanian.
He said 28 of them had acquired AIDS through blood transfusions
they had abroad. Many of the others acquired it through engaging
in sexual contact outside Jordan, Dr. Kharabsheh said.
Seventeen haemophilic children were infected in Jordan after
receiving blood factors used in the treatment of haemophilia.
Lack of popular education about AIDS, especially in schools -
home to over 1.5 million students - is a major problem hindering
AIDS awareness campaigns.
Though a handful of elitist private schools often discuss AIDS as
part of "awareness" classes held once a year, school
and university educational curricula does not discuss ways of
preventing AIDS.
Most families ignore discussions of the subject at home.
Dr. Kharabsheh said school and university curricula were
currently being updated to include sexual education.
"We should not ignore the fact that living in a conservative
culture, and having certain beliefs, would make the educational
process relating to sensitive topics a very challenging
task," said Bader Harahsheh, a researcher with the National
Task Force for Children.
Most doctors agree that Jordanian students who pursued their
education abroad have hardly much knowledge about general health
education, including how to prevent AIDS.
Dr. Harahsheh surveyed 200 students in 15 Middle East countries
studying in North America on attitude, behaviour and preventive
measures regarding AIDS. Most of them were not given any health
education and orientation regarding "risky sexual
behaviour," he said.
"Thirty percent of the sample had more than five sexual
partners a year. They were strongly opposed to using condoms, and
had never discussed AIDS with anyone," said Dr. Harahsheh, a
public health specialist.
He said most of them did not fear AIDS because they knew nothing
about it.
"They believed that AIDS was associated with gays and the
West, and that they would never get infected," he said.