Mapping and Situation Assessment of Key Populations at High Risk of HIV in Three Cities of Afghanistan
As yet, little is known about the HIV epidemic status and potential in Afghanistan. The country seems to be at an early epidemic phase with low HIV prevalence, but there are a number of underlying vulnerability factors that could lead to the condit...
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Format: | Working Paper |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/04/9452047/mapping-situation-assessment-key-populations-high-risk-hiv-three-cities-afghanistan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17938 |
Summary: | As yet, little is known about the HIV
epidemic status and potential in Afghanistan. The country
seems to be at an early epidemic phase with low HIV
prevalence, but there are a number of underlying
vulnerability factors that could lead to the conditions for
epidemic expansion, including drug trafficking, the
post-conflict situation with displacement of populations, a
fledgling health care system, and a low level of knowledge
and awareness about HIV/AIDS. As in other parts of central
and south Asia, the most important proximate determinants of
the scale and distribution of an HIV epidemic in Afghanistan
will be the size and characteristics of high risk networks
involving injecting drug users (IDUs), female sex workers
(FSWs) and men who have sex with men (MSM) who are at high
risk. Assessments from elsewhere in central Asia indicate an
explosive growth in injecting drug use and commercial sex
work throughout the region, concurrent epidemics of sexually
transmitted infections (STIs), and economic and political
migration. As yet, little information is known about the
size, distribution, and characteristics of IDU and sex
worker sub-populations in Afghanistan. Therefore, the World
Bank (WB) agreed with the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH)
to contract with the University of Manitoba (UM) to conduct
an assessment of these three key, high risk populations in
three cities of Afghanistan (Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, and Kabul). |
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