Pakistan ranks high in incidence of AIDS, now has 100,000 people HIV positive

[Naveed Yaseen]

Pakistan now ranks high among countries with concentrated HIV and Aids epidemics as the incidence of the disease has increased considerably in the last few years, remarked Director AMAL Foundation, Imran Rizvi.

Rizvi was speaking at a capacity building workshop themed “Women, children and HIV and Aids” held for media personnel at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday. Later, Dr Sikander Iqbal, Media Coordinator, Sindh Aids Control Programme (SACP) shared various facts regarding the spread of HIV in Pakistan. He said “Approximately 5,600 registered HIV positive people are currently present in Pakistan, out of which 2,500 cases have been reported from Sindh, while, according to a report of World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated number of 0.1 million patients living with HIV and AIDS are present in Pakistan out of which 27000 are women.

Highlighting the high incidence of the disease in adolescents Rizvi said that 41.5 percent of men between the ages of 15-49 have been found actively involved in commercial sex. Meanwhile, a large number of adolescents especially children living on the streets in Pakistan are engaged in injecting drugs along with commercial and transactional intercourse which leaves them vulnerable to HIV.

Speaking about the role of the media, Rizvi said that the world media has a greater role in influencing people. He also urged the media personnel to play their role in eliminating the myths associated with the disease.

“Though the mass media has taken steps in the fight against aids” he said, “still a lot more needs to be done in this regard with the help pf public service messages, publication of informative material about the disease and by dedicating airtime to HIV and AIDS public service documentaries on different TV channels.”

Media should pressurise the government as well as civil society to take this disease seriously and try to acquaint the masses with information,” he further stressed.

—By Ibtesam Mazahir

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=187178