Understanding the influence of culture and religion on youth's attitudes and knowledge of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East

Abstract

The main focus of this paper is to understand the effect of culture and religion on educating youth, which could increase the knowledge and change their attitudes and beliefs about HIV & other lethal Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), in the Middle Eastern countries. Although, the Middle East has the lowest infection rates in the world and is likely then, the lowest affected region the HIV/AIDS burden is fast increasing in the Middle East. This research project identifies how unlike other areas of world, the number of people newly infected by HIV and AIDS related death has increased rapidly since 2000. Therefore, this paper argues that it is significant for Middle Eastern countries to halt the prevalence of the HIV/AIDS and force the epidemic into decline thorough educating individuals about the epidemic. The literature suggests that culture and religion have a remarkable influence on communicating and implementing STI educational programs about sexually transmitted diseases. Still there are some effective educational methods, which could be adopted by Islamic culture and implemented in the schools for increasing the youth's knowledge about HIV/AIDS and its prevention.