avron
07-06-2004, 08:18 AM
So ok, I am touring the Arabian gulf region with my mom to see how my old man is doing(he works in the Army), did visit couple of countries around Dubai, Bahrain and now we're in Kuwait, I was surprised by the fact that almost NO ONE is worried about HIV, no one even bothers to get tested, I asked few around and they said HIV doesn't exist in the middle east!
I wondered how it could not exist when prostitution is almost everywhere in Dubai, the prostitutes are mostly russian tourists and in Kuwait almost 90% of the young males are homosexuals who have no idea what a condom is.
Anyway I met some locals in Kuwait few days ago including a doctor whose specialized in blood diseases, I brought up the HIV subject and was surprised by the education they get here; they're given VERY basic information at school about HIV such as you get from premarital sex and drug use and then four years later you die. There is NO sex education whatsoever at schools, bringing up the sex subject is like commiting sin to them, they just give the students religion classes that tells them the same thing as above- premarital sex is forbidden and you can get diseases from it thinking that would stop people from having sex.
To summarize and cut the whole HIV-investigation short I discovered the following:
-IV drug use is almost as common as smoking cigs between the young generations and the fact that the majority are REALLY rich around here makes obtaining heroin and cocain really easy.
-Casual unprotected sex is like a normal daily thing, whether it's with a prostitute or another male, it doesn't seem to worry anyone.
-No one BOTHERS with any symptoms that they may have had as long as they disappear few days later.
-If one is suspected to be HIV+, s/he is called diseased and would be avoided by everyone.
Now to the testing part, a lot of people FEAR and FORGET the fact of testing because they get qaurantined if one is tested positive! :eek:
And to make things even worse, the doctor told me stories of some cases where some married men traveled to thailand, had a bit of 'fun' there, got back home and ended up infecting their spouses and possibly their kids, this resulting in a whole family-qaurantine.
And they say there is no/low infection rate there, huh!
I was really disgusted of how people with diseases are treated, I am not sure if I want to know if they get treated in the qaurantine, it's all one big mess that no one knows about, not yet at least.
I wondered how it could not exist when prostitution is almost everywhere in Dubai, the prostitutes are mostly russian tourists and in Kuwait almost 90% of the young males are homosexuals who have no idea what a condom is.
Anyway I met some locals in Kuwait few days ago including a doctor whose specialized in blood diseases, I brought up the HIV subject and was surprised by the education they get here; they're given VERY basic information at school about HIV such as you get from premarital sex and drug use and then four years later you die. There is NO sex education whatsoever at schools, bringing up the sex subject is like commiting sin to them, they just give the students religion classes that tells them the same thing as above- premarital sex is forbidden and you can get diseases from it thinking that would stop people from having sex.
To summarize and cut the whole HIV-investigation short I discovered the following:
-IV drug use is almost as common as smoking cigs between the young generations and the fact that the majority are REALLY rich around here makes obtaining heroin and cocain really easy.
-Casual unprotected sex is like a normal daily thing, whether it's with a prostitute or another male, it doesn't seem to worry anyone.
-No one BOTHERS with any symptoms that they may have had as long as they disappear few days later.
-If one is suspected to be HIV+, s/he is called diseased and would be avoided by everyone.
Now to the testing part, a lot of people FEAR and FORGET the fact of testing because they get qaurantined if one is tested positive! :eek:
And to make things even worse, the doctor told me stories of some cases where some married men traveled to thailand, had a bit of 'fun' there, got back home and ended up infecting their spouses and possibly their kids, this resulting in a whole family-qaurantine.
And they say there is no/low infection rate there, huh!
I was really disgusted of how people with diseases are treated, I am not sure if I want to know if they get treated in the qaurantine, it's all one big mess that no one knows about, not yet at least.