In its place, now there is a new frankness that not only focuses on the prevention of the disease but also on an awareness drive to flush AIDS patients out of their homes.

This month, an HIV-positive woman here delivered twin babies, described by the doctors as HIV negative.

The woman had acquired the affliction nine years ago through blood transfusion at a time when HIV screening had not become mandatory at blood banks in the country.

She was put on a combination of antiretroviral drugs, which helped her in giving birth to perfectly normal babies.

Encouraged by this success, doctors are calling anew on the patients to seek the advanced treatment available free in the country.

The trend of going abroad and seeking treatment is not necessary anymore since the effective treatment is being provided free at the government hospitals. It was time that national (local citizen) patients took advantage of it, says Dr Abdullah Ustadi of Rashid Hospital in Dubai, who helped two HIV-positive mothers in delivering normal babies.

Under the generous welfare systems in the Persian Gulf Arab states, citizens are provided free medical treatment in government hospitals.

The media has a very important role in increasing awareness and flushing AIDS sufferers out of their homes, Ustadi said.

However, seeking advanced medical treatment may not be the only reason for the patients from the wealthy Persian Gulf states to go abroad. There is a certain stigma attached to AIDS for a host of social and religious reasons.

This in part explains why the debate on AIDS has not yet become full-blown in the media, an Arab analyst told Bernama.

AIDS is contracted through taboo activities. People catch the disease mostly doing things prohibited in Islam. The message is simple: follow the religion to live a safe life, she said.

She was referring to the people who indulge in sex outside marriage and drug abuse as it is widely believed that the use of common syringes by drug addicts and unprotected sex are major factors in the spread of the virus.

So, when a person gets infected with human immunodeficiency virus - the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome - silence is considered a better option than to face public humiliation.

To curb this tendency, health officials and hospitals in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates focus on educating people to change the general perception towards the killer disease.

In Oman, which made a rare announcement this month admitting 620 AIDS cases, 30 percent of whom were said to be women, Dr Ali Ahmed Ba Omar of the Health Ministry's anti-aids cell says that discussing the disease and how it is contracted is embarrassing in view of the local traditions.

But the efforts to tackle the negative perceptions about the disease are bearing fruit.

Today, if an AIDS patient invites people to a tea party, 80 percent will turn up. This was not so some years ago. Omar also pointed out that 70 percent of the victims in Oman were men. Let us face it, he says, generally, men are less careful than women.

The problem of AIDS concerns only the local segment of populations in the Persian Gulf Arab states because expatriates are obliged to undergo tests for a number of diseases, including Tuberculosis and the AIDS virus.

Those tested positive or suffering from any serious illness are promptly sent back to their respective countries.

Kuwait, where expatriates make up about two-thirds of the total population of 2.2 million, deported 522 expatriates in the first seven months of this year.

According a local report, 21 of the deportees were HIV-positive. The country has some 790 HIV cases, health officials say.

In the Persian Gulf Arab region, first cases of HIV were reported in 1984, but intensive efforts to stop the disease from making inroads into the local populace began only in recent years.

Among the steps the Arab states have taken to combat the AIDS menace are: mandatory screening at blood banks, creation of anti-AIDS units and various educational campaigns. At a health workshop in Oman early this month, a top Islamic scholar urged people to stay away from adultery and premarital sex.

A World Health Organization official in the region was pleased with such efforts, noting, shyness and secrecy are giving way to openness and frankness (in combating AIDS).

Oman has also mobilized women in its fight against AIDS and Dr Omar says that special attention is being given to check the HIV cases among women, mainly wives who contract the virus from their husbands.

In the UAE, a WHO estimate puts the HIV/AIDS cases at 2,300. Though exact figures for the number of people infected with the virus are not available, the official statistics are stated to be substantially lower.

Dr Khalifa Al Qutty, Chief of the Sharjah Preventive Medicine Center, said, in the Emirates, AIDS is not a problem as in other countries. He attributed the low incidence of the disease to people's adherence to religion and the conservative traditions of the society which help guard against immoral practices that cause the illness.

Saudi Arabia, considered the most conservative country in the Persian Gulf region observed the International AIDS Day on December 1 under the motto men have a major role in combating AIDS.

Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Dr Osama Shubukshi said the men must play the leading role to check the spread of AIDS through strict adherence to the teachings of Islam.

He said the authorities were keen on combating this disease and closing all doors that help in its spread.

In non-arab Iran, the HIV threat is considered much more serious, with officials estimating the presence of 10,000 people infected with the virus.

Health Minister Mohammad Farhadi likened the AIDS to a time bomb and warned of the spread of the scourge in the country.

To complicate the matters, an estimated two million people are said to be drug addicts in a population of 63 million.

The Arab analyst insisted the problem was not as serious in this part of world as it is in Africa and Asia, but any laxity in not taking preventive measures can spell a doom for the whole region.