Islam recruited to help Egyptians fight HIV

In Egypt, HIV and AIDS happen to other people; namely foreigners, the promiscuous, drug addicts and generally the morally corrupt, who should be avoided in case they infect you with a handshake, cough or unwashed cup.

Which is why Ahmed Turky's Friday sermon at a small Cairo mosque was unusual. In a Muslim country where hard drugs are relatively rare, gays are imprisoned and sex before or outside marriage is furtive, Turky's talk of compassion turned heads.

"The sermons had three points, first what AIDS is, secondly how it is spread and thirdly that if someone has AIDS it is an obligation of us all not to ostracize them," Turky said.

The majority of Egypt's health workers believe those with HIV should be removed from society, while most university students think "lewd" people, or those "who have neither values nor principles" are likeliest to get AIDS, a 2004 study found.

Turky started preaching about HIV and AIDS after attending a workshop organized by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), which in a new initiative aims to spread awareness about the disease by training religious leaders at a local level.

Although senior Arab religious leaders publicly backed efforts to combat the spread of HIV and discrimination against carriers of the virus in a declaration in 2004, spreading the message to local religious leaders has proved more difficult.

"You can always do good advocacy on top...But then trickling down is a completely different story," said Maha Aon of U.N. AIDS body UNAIDS.

Workshop information packs illustrate Islam's willingness to tackle sexual topics, and call for Koranic verses and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad that urge compassion and care for the welfare of others to be applied to those affected by HIV.

RAPID SPREAD

According to 2003 figures, fewer than 0.1 percent of Egyptian adults carry HIV, but conditions exist for the disease to spread rapidly.

With about 73 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous Arab state. About 56 percent are aged under 25. Despite cultural prohibitions against pre-marital sex, experts say the young are particularly vulnerable to HIV.

Furthermore, chronic youth unemployment means fewer people can afford to marry, increasing the risk of HIV spreading as men turn to temporary marriage, prostitutes or sex with other men.

Illiteracy, especially among women, is high, making AIDS awareness more difficult. The social standing of most women in Egypt is such that they have little control over their sex lives. Many with HIV contracted the disease from their husbands.

Combined with widespread poverty, low levels of condom use, public discomfort with discussing sexual issues and the fear and ignorance surrounding AIDS, activists fear the disease could be more prevalent and spreading faster than once believed.