HIV/AIDS in Egypt

With less than 1 percent of the population estimated to be HIV-positive, Egypt is a low-HIV-prevalence country. However, between the years 2006 and 2011, HIV prevalence rates in Egypt increased tenfold.^[1] Until 2011, the average number of new cases of HIV in Egypt was 400 per year, but in 2012 and 2013, it increased to about 600 new cases, and in 2014, it reached 880 new cases per year.^[2] According to 2016 statistics from UNAIDS, there are about 11,000 people currently living with HIV in Egypt.^[3] The Ministry of Health and Population reported in 2020 over 13,000 Egyptians are living with HIV/AIDS.^[4] However, unsafe behaviors among most-at-risk populations and limited condom usage among the general population place Egypt at risk of a broader epidemic.^[5]

Among officially reported cases, heterosexual intercourse is the primary mode of transmission of HIV (49.1 percent), followed by homosexual intercourse (22.9 percent), renal dialysis (12 percent), and blood transfusion (6.2 percent), according to the National Aids Program (NAP) in an official report issued in January 2008.^[6] Males are four times more likely to have HIV than females, but this may be due to more men being tested than women. Other people likely to be exposed to HIV in Egypt include street children, prisoners, and refugees. A United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded^[6] Biological-Behavioral Surveillance Survey was conducted by the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) to explore HIV prevalence rates among most-at-risk groups. The survey targeted street children, female sex workers (FSWs), men who have sex with men (MSM), and injecting drug users (IDUs). The study identified an infection rate of 6.9 percent and 7.7 percent in MSM and intravenous drug users respectively.^[5] These statistics fuel some of the hypotheses that there is a concentrated HIV epidemic occurring in Egypt among high-risk groups, but due to social stigma and lack of prevalence data, it is not acknowledged.^[5] Nonetheless, over time, the Egyptian government has made efforts to improve the lives of people with HIV and AIDS in the country.