Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - Tuesday, 2 December, 2003
Miranda Eeles, BBC, Tehran
From the road, it is hard to distinguish the huge military-style tents that are scattered amongst the trees.
Once inside the cordoned off area you can see seated areas with sofas and rugs, in this temporary home for men desperate to come off drugs.
In Iran, drug use and Aids are closely intertwined, as the majority of Aids patients have contracted the disease by sharing needles.
The country has 2 million drug users, with around 200,000 injecting themselves intravenously.
Prisons are thought to be one of the main places where the HIV virus is transmitted.
Needle sharing
Mohammad, a 45 year old former addict, is HIV-positive and believes he caught the virus in prison.
Described as a peer educator, he comes to the camp twice a week as a volunteer to talk about living with HIV.
Lavisan was set up just over a year ago by the local community.
The addicts it serves range from 18 to 60 years old. All have paid around $30 for food, lodging and an intense month-long detoxification programme.
There are clearings where some of the open sessions take place and a large kitchen area where the men can relax, drinking tea and chatting around an open fire.
"In prison the sharing of needles is very common," said Mohammad, sitting in one of the tents.
"Sometimes as many as 500 people use the same syringe. No-one knows or cares about the consequences.
"Now I try to I pass on to members of the camp everything I know.
"I ask them to go to a clinic to take tests but only if they want to. I never force them.
"I tell them I am HIV-positive so they realise there is no stigma.
"I am alive now, I enjoy my life the best way I can," he says.
Expanding network
Peer educators are crucial in a country where many of those vulnerable to HIV have little exposure to the media.
Drug addicts, especially those in prison, do not have access to newspapers, television or radio, so their level of awareness is minimal.
Lavisan camp is part of an expanding network of centres across Iran.
There are also clinics both inside and outside prison with the triple focus of drugs, Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases.
These clinics offer primary health care and services such as counselling, free condoms and syringe exchange programme facilities.
Changes needed
Aids experts are hoping a pilot project currently taking place in one of the prisons will soon convince the authorities to offer the same services behind bars.
Dr Arash Alaie helped set up the first of these clinics in Kermanshah, a city in western Iran.
Now he helps run a clinic in north Tehran.
"One of the problems is that they don't have the right approach," Dr Alaie says.
"For example they view a drug addict as an offender and not a patient, so they end up in prison.
"It's important they change their attitude to understand this is an illness and not a crime."
As in other countries around the world, experts believe official statistics belie the reality.
Iran has so far identified around 5,700 HIV patients, but health officials say the figure is probably five times higher.
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