HIV trend among Iranian prisoners in 1990s and 2000s; analysis of aggregated data from HIV sentinel sero-surveys

BACKGROUND: Using the aggregated data of all sentinel sero-surveys (1991 to 2007), this study aimed to report the HIV trend among Iranian prisoners. METHOD: Overall, we analysed the aggregated data from 397 HIV sero-surveys conducted in 72 prisons (included 155,771 prisoners) from 1991 through 2007. RESULTS: The overall HIV prevalence was 2.8% (95% CI: 1.8%-4.3%). In 1998, HIV prevalence dramatically increased to 4.5% (95% CI: 1.1%-16.8%), which later became stable at level of 2.8%. Prisons were so heterogeneous regarding HIV prevalence (0% to 13.2%). CONCLUSION: Since the outbreak, the ministry of health has acknowledged prisoners as one of the high-risk groups for HIV, increased the number of sentinel surveys and on-site harm reduction services to better monitor and response to the HIV epidemic. The downward trend of HIV prevalence after 2005 suggests the effectiveness of such interventions which need to be continued.