World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is a crucial reminder of how real the fight against AIDS continues to be. Despite the ongoing struggle, an estimated 34 million people around the world suffer from the AIDS epidemic. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Pakistan is estimated to be 80-100,000, but this estimate can be a weak one at best given the stigma associated with being an AIDS patient in Pakistan.

AIDS and stigma are two words that are usually used one after the other in any reference of the disease. This stigma is fatal, as the silence around the illness continues to take lives around the world. Since 1984, when the virus was first discovered, more than 35 million deaths have been attributed to AIDS. Correct figures of deaths due to AIDS in Pakistan cannot be ascertained, again, because, the infection is seen as such a taboo that often an AIDS patient is not even considered worthy of treatment. This is what needs to change in Pakistan.

As World AIDS day is observed this week, Pakistan needs to make a commitment to fight this fight.

Until the stigma around AIDS is reduced or eradicated, we will only be depriving our people of their access to testing, counselling and treatment. The only way to break this burdening taboo is to openly discuss the symptoms, causes and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Health authorities should launch awareness campaigns and encourage people to test themselves, particularly couples looking to get married.

But as things stand, the level of awareness is so little that most people are unable to differentiate between the virus HIV and AIDS, while there is barely any education on protected sexual intercourse and access to contraceptives remains difficult. This calls for some immediate remedial steps. We need to educate and challenge myths and stereotypes and reduce the suffering of patients. There is a global commitment to end AIDS by 2030 and Pakistan must contribute to this struggle. AIDS patients need the respect, dignity and empathy that the sufferers of any disease deserve. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2016.

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