HIV/AIDS in Algeria
Algeria has one of the lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in Africa. In 2022, the United Nations estimated that there were 28, 000 adults and children living with the disease in the country, accounting for 0.1% of the total population. While overall prevalence rates are low, the number of new infections continues to rise. This has been attributed to different factors, including a lack of knowledge around transmission among Algerian citizens, alongside a greater public awareness of the disease itself. Prevalence HIV/AIDS was first identified in Sétif in 1986. Around 500 Algerians have died of AIDS-related complications since the epidemic began. During the early years of the epidemic, national understanding of the disease was low, which led to a likely discrepancy in the number of Algerians contracting HIV/AIDS with the number of reported cases. The traditionally conservative culture often meant that discussing the disease, either publicly or privately, was considered a social taboo. The World Health Organization has identified drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men as being the key populations among whom the HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated. The number of women infected with HIV/AIDS has sharply increased, with the ratio of men to women having contracted