ALGERIA: Experts question "low" AIDS statistics

JOHANNESBURG, 11 January 2006 (PlusNews) - AIDS experts are concerned that the pandemic is taking hold in Algeria, even though government statistics suggest little cause for alarm.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, Population and Hospital Reform, just 20,000 of Algeria's almost 33 million population were living with HIV/AIDS by the end of December 2005.

However, Dr Ouzariad Boualem of the National Committee for the Fight Against AIDS told the Inter Press Service news agency that the actual number could be far higher, as current statistics did not accurately reflect what was really happening.

UNAIDS recently warned in its 'AIDS Epidemic Update' that the amount of new infections recorded in Algeria in 2004 alone - an estimated 266 - could "herald a surge in the country's hitherto small epidemic, which is still inadequately surveyed."