HIV and Neonates Conference Held in TUMS

School of Nursing and Midwifery affiliated to Tehran University of Medicl Sciences (TUMS) held a two-day conference on HIV and Neonates with an approach to AIDS during pregnancy at Imam Khomeini Hospital on January 4 – 5, 2012.

The Scientific Secretary of the conference, Dr. Maliheh Kadivar said 7000 new cases of HIV are diagnosed every day in the world and 33 million people had the infection by 2009 and half of them were women.

She added that 1.8 million people had died of AIDS by 2009. She said the disease has had a 55% increase in the number of patients in Eastern Mediterranean region and one child with the disease is expected to die every minute. She added that cautions had been issued regarding the emergence of the third wave of HIV/AIDS which is brought about by behavioral problems and its main victims are women and children born with HIV.

Dr. Hayedeh Noktehdan, a faculty member of TUMS School of Nursing and Midwifery, cautioned about the reduction in the mean age for high-risk sexual behaviors in the country and said more than 50% of new cases of HIV were young people below the age of 25 who are sexually active in this age group.

Dr. Noktehdan informed that about 60 million people had been infected by the virus and about 30 million people had died of the disease since 1988. She added that more than 23000 people were infected with disease in Iran –  91.5% being men and 8.5% being women – by the end of June 2011 and said some authorities believed the figure should be multiplied by four [to have a good estimate about the disease prevalence].

She finally said HIV/AIDS was a preventable disease with no definite treatment but some new medications could slow its course.

Photo gallery.