The huge cost of treatment – the state spends about $ 10,000 per patient a month – has also been brought to light.
However, officials said the situation was not alarming, pointing out that the mortality rate was ‘very low’ because of the top quality health care the patients receive.
The two-year National Aids Community Awareness Campaign will kick off on Wednesday and focus on spreading awareness about the disease among the public and how to avoid it, as well as reducing discrimination against patients, Dr Ali Ahmed Salim Ba’omer, Head of Aids Section at the Ministry of Health, told a news conference here. “Every year about 100 new cases of the disease are diagnosed,” Ba’omar said in reply to questions, adding that the total number of known patients living with the disease was 1,119 at the end of last year.
More than 50 per cent of them are aged between 15 and 35 years and 25 per cent are women.
However, the “comprehensive and quality health care and social support” provided to people living with HIV/Aids has succeeded in keeping the mortality rate very low as compared to the number of diagnosed cases, Ba’omar said.
He added that in the third line of treatment with antiretroviral drugs, the government spends around $ 10,000 monthly for treatment of only one person, “which is very costly.
In this context, the national campaign will comprise a series of awareness activities particularly targeting the youth and other major segments of the community to extensively address the issue of HIV/Aids in the Sultanate.”
The main cause of the disease among Omanis has been found to be unsafe sexual behaviour.
“Ninety per cent of HIV infection is because of sexual habits. Transmission from mother to child is low and use of needle sharing among drug addicts has gone because of the extent of awareness programmes,” Ba’omar said.
He said the new campaign, titled ‘Let’s Us Talk About Aids’, would underline the fact that HIV/Aids in the country is not imported, “but existent among Omanis and can be effectively prevented and avoided,” Dr Salim Ba’omer said.
