Free from infection: 90 babies born to mothers with HIV are healthy

K-P minister says centres like HMC are being established

PESHAWAR: Some 90 babies born at a Peshawar medical facility to mothers with HIV/AIDs were found to be healthy while only two of them tested positive for the deadly virus, said an official of the Provincial AIDS Control Programme.

The official, who requested not to be named, was sharing statistics of childbirths at the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), which offers medical treatment and counselling to HIV/AIDS patients.

Official data obtained from Provincial AIDS Control Programme says 27.2% — some 702 individuals out of 2,584 HIV/AIDs patients across the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) — are drug users, who got infected due to repeated use of injections for drugs.



Based on a 2011 survey, the data says 7.2% of the total HIV/AIDS patients are transgender, 1.6% male- and 0.6% female sex workers.

Apart from the 2,584 HIV/AIDS patients in the province, 235 from across the country were also registered with the provincial programme and received medical assistance.

The data shows that 222 out of 2,584 patients in K-P are male, 104 female, 10 boys and six were girls while some 11 patients are prisoners. Some 485 individuals belonged to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The official dealing with the programme said only 0.6% of the total patients said the virus was transmitted to them due to sexual activity while the rest got infected due to injections, blood transfusion, contaminated razors and other causes.

The provincial government, according to the K-P Minister for Health Shahram Khan Tarakai, is focusing on how to prevent people from falling prey to the deadly diseases and at the same time, to counter the stigma attached to it since sexual contact is not the only cause for transmission of the virus.

“We can proudly say that the HMC is at the top across the country and a family care centre is offering services in the city,” Tarakai informed media persons at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday.

Tarakai said centres like the one at the HMC are being established at the divisional headquarters so that people find assistance at the nearest possible place, adding that the ministry planned campaigns specifically targeting educational institutions to create awareness among general public.

“This is a communicable disease and society should not only accept people with HIV/AIDS but also extend support,” he said, adding that people must ensure blood is screened before transfusion. “Some Rs7million  has been allocated for prisons,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2016.