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.
School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017 Feb 1;6(2):65-69. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2016.112.
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.
尽管在世界大多数地区，艾滋病毒疫情的新感染人数呈下降趋势，但中东和北非（MENA）地区的艾滋病毒问题却在迅速加剧。自 2005 年以来，艾滋病毒数据的生成一直在持续增加，但 MENA 在全球艾滋病毒文献中的贡献仅略高于 1%，而且现有证据往往落后于学术标准。有几个因素可能会影响 MENA 地区艾滋病毒数据的数量和质量有限，本社论试图探讨并解释在 MENA 地区收集高质量艾滋病毒数据和生成精确估计值的障碍。这些障碍包括研究人员、公共卫生官员和政策制定者所面临的一些后勤和社会政治挑战。通过研究成功的区域艾滋病毒项目，我们探讨了政策转变的例子，以及在该地区制定艾滋病毒应对措施方面可以吸取的经验教训。
