80% HIV spread in Pakistan through IDU

Wisal Yousafzai

PESHAWAR: 80 per cent of the HIV is spread in Pakistan through Injection Drug Use (IDU), including unprotected sex, use of used syringes and expatriates infected in the Middle East.

It is estimated that the number of HIV positive persons in Punjab reached 64,000 followed by Sindh with 56,000. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has an estimated 8,500 HIV positive patients while the number reached nearly 3,000 in Balochistan.

Dr Muhammad Ayub Roz, Director General and Health services Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and chief guest at the event organized by North West School of Medicine (NWSM) informed the participants that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was dedicated to better address the HIV/AIDA pandemic in the province.

“The provincial government has dedicated Rs 500 million for HIV/AIDS for the next three years. This amount will be spent on creating awareness among the people and new Family Care Centres in at least eight tertiary care hospitals in the province,” he added.

“Until now, KP had only two specialized centres for HIV/AIDS at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) Peshawar and Kohat. A newly established third dedicated centre will soon be operational at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar to facilitate patients from Peshawar and its surrounding cities and Fata,” Dr Ayub Roz added.

Earlier, Dr Riaz Gul, Head of Community Medicine at NWSM talked about the importance of public health awareness for prevention from various diseases.

Dr Ijaz Hassan Khattak, Principal NWSM lauded the KP government’s efforts in making health as a priority in the province. “The selection of the new DG Health shows the sincerity of the government in further improving the health status of KP,” he said.

Ms. Maimoona Noor, director of All Women Advancement and Resource Development (AWARD) presented facts and figures about HIV/AIDS. She noted that HIV spread mostly through four types of body fluids, namely fluids from male and female during intercourse, body fluids, blood transfusion and breast feeding.

Ms Maimoona informed that HIV infection was immediately contagious and early treatment was must for stopping the virus from further spreading. “Many people infected with HIV have no symptoms for 10 years or more. The virus can be detected three months after infection through various tests. However, further tests should be performed six months after detection to confirm the virus,” she added.

She also said that poverty, abuse, stigmatizing and discrimination were some of the main reasons behind infected persons’ non-disclosure of their infection.

Dr Adil Zareef, chief organizer of the event thanked the officials and participants of the event. “The NWSM is committed to provision of quality health services to the public of KP and Fata. We take pride in promoting awareness about health issues concerning Pakistan,” he added.