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Published on: October 31, 2010
Characterising the progress in HIV/AIDS research in the Middle East and North Africa
Hanan F Saba1, Silva P Kouyoumjian, Ghina R Mumtaz
1Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medical College - Qatar, Qatar Foundation, , Education city, Doha, Qatar.
Insights
HIV research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has grown rapidly, with an accelerated pace in recent years. Despite this progress, significant data gaps persist across the region, necessitating further research.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Public Health
- Medical Research
Background:
- The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is often perceived as having limited data regarding HIV.
- Understanding the trajectory of HIV research is crucial for addressing the epidemic effectively in this region.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively assess the progress of HIV research in the MENA region since the emergence of the HIV epidemic.
- To characterize the growth and trends in HIV research output from MENA.
Main Methods:
- Utilized four distinct indices to measure HIV research progress.
- Data sources included PubMed, Embase, the MENA HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Synthesis Project, and US Census Bureau HIV/AIDS Surveillance databases.
- Indices provided complementary measures of research progress.
Main Results:
- Identified a substantial number of HIV research records from MENA (over 2100 via PubMed, over 2300 via Embase).
- MENA's HIV research output represents 1.2% of global records, showing steady and recently accelerated annual growth.
- Research progress in MENA outpaced global HIV research growth, with significant heterogeneity across countries.
Conclusions:
- HIV research in the MENA region has experienced rapid growth in the last decade.
- Despite advancements, considerable gaps in scientific evidence remain, and progress is uneven across countries.
- Future research should focus on academic standards and increasing scientific publications to address evidence gaps.
Objectives:
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is perceived to have limited HIV data. The objective of this study was to quantitatively characterise the progress in HIV research in this region since the discovery of the epidemic.
Methods:
Four indices were defined and implemented to measure the progress of HIV research using the PubMed, Embase, MENA HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Synthesis Project and US Census Bureau HIV/AIDS Surveillance databases. The four indices provide complementary measures to characterise different aspects of the progress of HIV research.
Results:
A total of 2118, 2352, 683 and 4889 records were identified through the PubMed, the Embase, the Synthesis Project and the HIV Prevalence indices, respectively. The proportion of the total global HIV records that relate to MENA is 1.2%. Overall, the indices show steady progress in the number of new records every year, with an accelerated pace in the last few years. The rate of progress in MENA was also higher than the rate of progress in HIV records globally. There is no evidence so far of stabilisation or a peak in the number of new records year by year. About half of the records were produced after the year 2005. The number of records shows large heterogeneity across countries.
Conclusions:
MENA has witnessed a rapid growth in HIV research over the last decade. However, there are still large gaps in HIV scientific evidence in the region, and the progress is far from being uniform across countries. Ongoing and future research needs to be geared towards academic standard and production of scientific publications.
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