By Darren Schuettler
Bangkok - Israeli and Palestinian doctors came together this week to forge an alliance against HIV/Aids at a global conference on the killer disease.
In a first for the biennial Aids gathering, health experts from Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and several North African nations attended a session on the disease, which has infected nearly half a million people in the region.
"Arabs and Israelis were in a room together and no one walked out," said Dr Sandy Sufian, a University of Chicago professor and founder of a new global network bringing together Aids researchers and doctors from the Middle East and North Africa.
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| 'Arabs and Israelis were in a room together and no one walked out' |
"We were fortunate to have people who put politics on the back burner to look at this human tragedy," said Sufian, who founded the Global Network of Researchers on HIV/Aids in the Middle East and North Africa.
They swapped meagre data on the scope of the disease and debated ways to overcome the conservative cultures and government complacency hampering the fight against HIV/Aids in their region.
About 480 000 people are believed to be living with the disease in the Middle East and North Africa, with 75 000 new infections last year, according to UNAids, the United Nations Aids body.
The region's 0,2 percent prevalence rate in the adult population is low compared to harder hit areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
But experts say governments are too complacent and that HIV, the virus that causes Aids, can spread easily from neighbouring regions.
"The Middle East is a crossroads between Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, so when you hear about a growing epidemic there, it's not that far away," said Inon Schenker, a senior HIV/Aids prevention scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
UNAids says inadequate monitoring means potential epidemics in high risk groups such as sex workers, injecting drug users and men having sex with men are being overlooked.
Women, another high-risk group because being married and faithful is no protection against infection, account for 55 percent of Aids cases in the region.
"People do not acknowledge that we have a problem. People are fooling themselves," said Dr Etaf Maqboul of Bethlehem University, blaming a conservative culture for driving HIV/Aids underground.
In some cases, the stigma attached to disease has driven families to cast out relatives with HIV. People who may have HIV are afraid to get tested and some medical workers are reluctant to treat people with the disease for fear they will be infected.
"We are a conservative society. People think those who have HIV/Aids got it through illegal sex. They do not feel any empathy or sympathy," Maqboul said.
She said meeting with Israeli counterparts showed they could put politics aside and tackle the disease together - at least away from the conflict at home.
Before the Palestinian uprising began three and a half years ago, Maqboul met Israeli researchers regularly. That channel is all but closed due to restrictions on freedom of movement.
"It is an issue because e-mail is not good enough, you have to meet face to face," said Schenker, adding he hoped the new network would lead to more exchanges and debates.
"An understanding for the need for research allowed us to put politics aside. It doesn't mean things are easy, but I came out with a good feeling," he said.
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