Saudi has 4,019 Aids patients

Saudi Arabia had 4,019 people suffering from the acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome towards the end of 2010 and nearly 30 per cent of the victims are women, according to local medical statistics.

About 88 per cent of the victims have contracted the disease through sexual relationships inside the Gulf Kingdom, said Dr Adel Al Othman, director of the infectious diseases section at the King Abdul Aziz medical city in Riyadh.

“Most of the Saudis inflected with AIDS have got the disease inside the country… this is because they have not travelled abroad as they do not have passports,” he said, quoted by Sharq Arabic language daily on Monday.

“The increase in Aids cases in the Kingdom over the past years is alarming considering the lack of awareness of this disease and how to deal with it…some believe it could be transmitted by touching but this is wrong Aids is transmitted only through sex or blood and it can be prevented by using condoms.”

Othman urged the government and the media to intensify campaigns to educate the public about the killer disease.

“This can be done through conferences, seminars and lectures at schools, universities and places where young people are concentrated.”

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