The Passports Department has made AIDS and bilharzia tests compulsory for all African expatriates to renew their residence permits. The department's branches all over the Kingdom have started implementing the decision. Those infected will be deported. Sources said the decision came after an increase in AIDS and bilharzia cases in African countries. Bilharzia also known as Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease. An estimated 22 million were found to be affected with HIV in Africa at the end of 2007 and approximately 1.9 million additional people were infected with HIV during that year, according to official African estimates.
