Bahrain’s first anonymous Aids testing centre will start functioning at the Red Crescent Society (BRCS) premises in Diplomatic Area, in December.

Staff are soon to be trained to run the centre, said National Sexually Transmitted Diseases Programme manager Dr Somaya Al Jowder.

The centre will become operational on World Aids Day, December 1.

’I have just completed a course in Tehran, Iran on the subject and will set up training for the centre staff in a few days,’ said Dr Al Jowder.

’We can begin the process in September and prepare everyone in the next two months,’ she said.

She said officials had a choice between the Public Health Directorate and the BRCS for the centre. The latter was selected because of its central location and easy accessibility to other infrastructure.

’This centre has been in the pipeline for the last few months and was initially thought to be set up last month,’ said Dr Al Jowder.

’However, since there were issues connected with training and recruitment, it was postponed till December. We now feel the World Aids Day is the right occasion to launch it.’

The aim is to set up an anonymous testing centre in each of the five governorates over the next year.

Dr Al Jowder said Bahrain would be only the second country in the region after Saudi Arabia to set up such a centre.

The first announcement came when Health Minister Dr Faisal Al Hamer returned home after attending the first HIV/TB Global Leaders’ Forum in New York, in June.

During the meeting, Dr Al Hamer briefed leaders on the progress Bahrain had made in combating HIV and tuberculosis in the last two years.

The centres are part of a government initiative to reach hundreds of people who may be infected without being aware of it, said Dr Al Jowder.

’According to estimates, there are now around 100 Aids sufferers in Bahrain but there could be many others who might be infected without knowing they are,’ she said.

Of the 91 cases who tested positive in 2007, 68 were non-Bahrainis.

Among the Bahrainis, 90 per cent were men and the rest women.

A survey also revealed that while most men got infected due to improper use of syringes, almost all the women were infected by their husbands.

Dr Al Jowder said Bahrain had also started preparing for the December 1 event, for which the slogan this year is ’Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise’.

She said this is an appeal to governments, policy makers and regional health authorities to ensure that they meet the many targets that have been set in the fight against HIV and Aids, and especially the promise of universal access to HIV treatment, care, support and prevention services by 2010.

’This campaign will run until 2010, with a related theme chosen for World Aids Day each year,’ she said. - TradeArabia News service