Copyright
©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Epidemiological characterization and geographic distribution of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome infection in North African countries
Mohamed A Daw, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli cc82668, Tripoli, Libya
Mohamed O Ahmed, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli cc82668, Tripoli, Libya
Author contributions: Daw MA designed the research study and wrote the manuscript; Ahmed MO and Daw MA analyzed the data; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohamed A Daw, BM BCh, BPharm, FTCDI, MD, PharmD, PhD, Academic Fellow, Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Alfrnaj Street, Tripoli cc82668, Tripoli, Libya. mohamedadaw@gmail.com
Received: November 4, 2020
Peer-review started: November 4, 2020
First decision: December 11, 2020
Revised: December 22, 2020
Accepted: January 8, 2021
Article in press: January 8, 2021
Published online: March 25, 2021
Peer-review started: November 4, 2020
First decision: December 11, 2020
Revised: December 22, 2020
Accepted: January 8, 2021
Article in press: January 8, 2021
Published online: March 25, 2021
Core Tip
Core Tip: North Africa is a unique geographical region located on the southern Mediterranean basin and represents the largest region of Africa. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is an increasing threat in this region. Previous studies analyzed mainly the risk factors associated with risk groups at a national level and no single study has yet analyzed the actual epidemiological situation of HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the whole region. This review aims to analyze and characterize the epidemiological and geographic variation of HIV/AIDS in North African countries and to highlight the strategies needed to combat this epidemic at the national and regional levels.