Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
QUALITY OF LIFE IN HIV/AIDS PATIENTS IN LEBANON
Back to contents page
Sarah Abboud, RN, BSN
Research Assistant,
School of Nursing
American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Tel. 961-3-421572
E-mail. sa42@aub.edu.lb
Samar Noureddine RN, PhD
Associate Professor,
School of Nursing
American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Background
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (2006) reported
that in the past year, an estimated 4.1 million persons were newly
infected with the disease worldwide, and around 2.8 million died of
AIDS. A total of 38.6 million people were estimated to be living with
HIV in 2005, and nearly 40 million lives have been claimed since the
start of the pandemic in the 1980s.
Significance of the problem
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the number of
people living with HIV has been increasing tremendously. Although
the estimates are based on inadequate and inaccurate data because
of underreporting, the number of people reported to have HIV
increased from 380,000 in 2000 to 440,000 in 2005. Although the
prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the MENA region is low (0.2%), this
does not mean that the MENA region is at low risk for HIV/AIDS
epidemic, in view of the underreporting of cases (Yong Kim, 2002).
The problem of HIV/AIDS is steadily growing in Lebanon since the
diagnosis of the first case in 1984 (Kalaajieh, 2000). With a
prevalence rate of 0.1%, 2000 people were estimated to be infected
with HIV in 2001, and 2900 in 2006 (The World Bank, 2005;
UNAIDS, 2006; UNAIDS/WHO, 2004). However, by November
2006, only 958 cases of HIV/AIDS were reported to the Lebanese
National AIDS Control Program (Ministry of Health, 2007). This
discrepancy in the numbers highly reflects the underreporting of
HIV/AIDS in the country.
Nowadays, with the presence of Highly Active Anti Retroviral
Therapy, patients with AIDS are living longer; nevertheless the
clinical course of their disease remains unpredictable, thus affecting
their quality of life on all levels. The Lebanese culture gives high
- 1 -