I well remember there was a time at the Ministry of Health during which we had allocated a telephone line to inform the public of addiction prevention. You can't believe how frequently families and the young people would contact us and would ask us for more information. The people are eager to know. The National Committee for the Prevention of AIDS was actually launched in 1986. On the other hand the emerging programs from these meetings should be enforceable.
Statistics point at Tehran as to have the highest number of patients.
However, after conducting researches in prisons, we came to the conclusion that the highest number of AIDS patients is found in the rehabilitation centers and prisons of Kermanshah. Because of repair works carried out in Kahnooj penitentiary, the inmates were transferred to Mashad Ab Hayat prison. This resulted in an effective increase in the number of AIDS patients in Mashad prisons, as well.