HIV in the Middle East.

Sensitivity surrounding young people's sexual and reproductive health has limited the knowledge base, particularly on young people's perspectives and needs, that could inform legislation, policy, and programmes. Appropriate sex education could be strengthened through working with teachers and parents. Special attention is needed in designing programmes that reach the most vulnerable young people. Above all, government commitment is required to translate the small scale models in the region to national programmes that improve the welfare of all young people. The statements in this article are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or the views of Unicef. Contributors and sources: This article draws on a larger study based on a literature review and interviews with 51 informants supported by Unicef 's Middle East and North Africa office. 1 Bonnie Shepard was responsible for the overall design of the study, gave numerous comments, and provided information for the situation analysis. George Ionita and Golda El-Khoury managed the study project and Naheed Aziz reviewed an earlier draft. Julieta LeMaitre reviewed legislation and government commitments. Iman Mortagy and Rana Jawad helped with research. JDJ's research interest is reproductive health and HIV/ AIDS in the Middle East region, GE-K has been active in promoting rights-based multi-sectoral policies and programs on young people in the Middle East and North Africa region. JDJ was author of situation analysis, wrote the article, and is guarantor ; GE-K drafted some sections of this article, gave many substantive comments on the text, and provided material on programmes reaching young people. National Population Commission, Jordan. Jordanian youth survey: knowledge, attitudes and practices on the reproductive health and family planning. Arab world and the internet: usage patterns of an Arabic-language emergency contraception website. (accessed 4 Oct 2006). 18 Association Tunisienne du Planning Familial. Evaluation du Projet 'La Double Protection pour les Jeunes': Résultats d'une enquête qualitative auprès des étudiantes dans les foyers universitaires. Résultats d'une enquête qualitative. Prevalence of HIV in the Middle East is low but there is no room for complacency The problem of HIV in the Middle East has elicited contradictory expectations and responses. Denial (" Not in our region ") characterised the early phases of the epidemic. HIV was presented as a disease brought from countries where sexual morals were decadent, and obedience to Islam was thought to offer the best protection. 1 Perhaps as a reaction to this, allegations have been …