Kurdistan Health Ministry records four AIDS infections in 2015

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that there have been four cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) registered in the Kurdistan Region in 2015, stating that the infected foreigners had been deported to their countries.

In a statement that issued on Tuesday, December 1 - World AIDS Day, Health Ministry of Kurdistan Region additionally revealed that “the total number of AIDS infections in the region stood at 24 cases.”

The ministry also mentioned that “the infected persons are still alive, and they all have a good health condition. They receive full medical care and treatment by the health authorities in the Kurdistan Region,” read the statement.

Previously, the ministry stated that Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has approved to allocate funds for those who are infected AIDS in the Kurdistan Region. On August, the Health Ministry announced that the Council of Ministers approved the request to allocate IQD 500,000 ( US $400) to the infected people with AIDS as a financial assist to them.

Rekawt Hama Rasheed, the KRG Minister of Health, stated before that annually, 100,000 precautionary tests have been conducted from 2007 until 2012 while the ministry has dramatically increased this proportion to 200–300 thousand annual tests in the past three years, noting that the test is mostly done for the foreign people entering the Kurdistan Region.