HIV/AIDS in the Muslim-Majority Countries: Formula for Low Prevalence

The Muslim-majority countries long had been considered to be free of HIV/AIDS epidemic because of their strict religious and moral codes. However, the HIV prevalence rates are increasing in some Islamic states, and even more or so rapidly in a several cases that it is no longer valid to assume the Islamic religion protects its followers from the risks of contracting HIV. Contrary to the popular belief concerning the prevention of the HIV/AIDs epidemic, data collected from well-recognized international organizations such as the WHO and Freedom House indicate that democratization, strong government leadership, and wider and equal human rights for men and women are not necessarily the precursors for lower HIV/AIDS rates in the Islamic countries. Rather, it is more deeply rooted and complicated problem that concern religious and socio-cultural factors in the society, which are not always visible in numbers. This paper presents both quantitative and qualitative researches on Muslim-majority countries with increasing and decreasing HIV prevalence rates to further examine what works in the region in terms of containing further spread of the disease. By doing so, I hope that this paper will fill the gap in the literature, as there is an undeniable lack of study despite the urgent situation.