Improving the Quality and Quantity of HIV Data in the Middle East and North Africa: Key Challenges and Ways Forward

Document Type : Editorial

Authors

1 HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

2 School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

3 Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

4 UNAIDS – The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Although the HIV pandemic is witnessing a decline in the number of new infections in most regions of the world, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has a rapidly growing HIV problem. While generating HIV data has been consistently increasing since 2005, MENA’s contribution to the global HIV literature is just over 1% and the existing evidence often falls behind the academic standards. Several factors could be at play that contribute to the limited quantity and quality of HIV data in MENA. This editorial tries to explore and explain the barriers to collecting high-quality HIV data and generating precise estimates in MENA. These barriers include a number of logistic and socio-political challenges faced by researchers, public health officials, and policy-makers. Looking at successful regional HIV programs, we explore examples were policies have shifted and lessons could be learned in developing appropriate responses to HIV across the region.

Highlights

Commentaries Published on this Paper

  • The Elephants in the Room: Sex, HIV, and LGBT Populations in MENA. Intersectionality in Lebanon; Comment on “Improving the Quality and Quantity of HIV Data in the Middle East and North Africa: Key Challenges and Ways Forward”

          Abstract | PDF

  • Ensuring HIV Data Availability, Transparency and Integrity in the MENA Region; Comment on “Improving the Quality and Quantity of HIV Data in the Middle East and North Africa: Key Challenges and Ways Forward”

          Abstract | PDF

 

Authors' Response to the Commentaries

  • Tackling HIV in MENA: Talk Is Not Enough–It Is Time for Bold Actions: A Response to Recent Commentaries

          Abstract | PDF

Keywords

Main Subjects

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History

  • Receive Date: 20 April 2016
  • Revise Date: 09 August 2016
  • Accept Date: 10 August 2016
  • First Publish Date: 01 February 2017

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