Drug injecting is already the most common cause of AIDS in some countries, accounting for two-thirds of reported cases in Bahrain in 1998 and half in Islamic Republic of Iran. In Tunisia, injecting drug use is responsible for more than one-third of AIDS cases. In Egypt, one AIDS case in 10 is among drug injectors. In Pakistan, 5.4% of 703 drug injectors tested HIV positive in 1995. Recent studies by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) in a few countries of the Middle East - Egypt, Iran and Lebanon - indicate that the magnitude of the drug abuse problem should not be underestimated.