Introduction

The Islamic Republic of Iran is the seventeenth largest country in the world and located in South- West Asia in the middle east region and spanning an area of over 1,648,000 square Kilometers.

Iran divided into 28 provinces, Which are further broken down into smaller administrative area (District) and it's capital is Tehran .

According to Latest census, which was conducted in 1996, Iran 's population is 60,055,488 of which 29,540,329 are female and 30,515,159 are male. 61% of population are settled in urban areas and 39% live in rural communities.

99.6% of population are Moslem, 0.2% are Christian, 0.07% Zoroastrians and 0.05% Jews.

The official language and script is Persian. Literacy Rate have shown much improvement and in the recent year is about 80%.

Overview on AIDS in Asia

Some experts are predicting that in the next decade the spread of AIDS in Asia will surpass the 22.5 million cases in sub-Saharan Africa and become the largest infected area of the world. UNAIDS estimates that 5 to 7 million people are now living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific. Asia with 60% of the world's population could fast become the region with the most HIV infections.

Asian countries are now seeing the virus rapidly become an epidemic among the general population.

About 42% of the 30 million people with HIV/AIDS in the world are women. Some contributing factors to this high rate among women in general are poverty, lower social status, and illiteracy.

Background of HIV/AIDS in Iran

The first HIV positive was identified in 1987 in Iran . As of 1 January 2001 the official figure for people living with HIV/AIDS in Iran was 2271, of which 2167 were male and 104 female. Of this total 1455(64%) were injecting drug users, and 309 had AIDS.

About 1,200,000 people are annually tested for HIV in Iran and the addicted, those affected to venereal diseases and people who frequently travel aboard are among those who are tested.

The medicines to treat patients whose help them live longer are given to them free of charge and prison officials are provided with medicines to help the inmates affected by virus.

It is feared that the situation regarding HIV/AIDS in Iran may be more serious than generally realized. The main concern of the government is the potential spread of infection from injecting drug users to the general population. The strategic geographic situation of Iran and its long common borders with the countries of the Golden Crescent ( Afghanistan and Pakistan ), which produce a substantial proportion of the world's heroin, have confronted Iran with the problems of drug trafficking and concomitant drug addiction within the country. According to the latest observations, many drug-using men return home from prison with HIV/AIDS and the wives of such men are at very high risk of contracting HIV.

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