World AIDS Day: Govt providing free HIV-AIDS diagnosis services

Around 33 centres working to curb the spread, impact of HIV in the country

ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi has stated that the government is now providing high-impact, comprehensive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention services along with free diagnostic and curative services to key affected populations and people living with the virus.

He stated this in a message issued on World AIDS Day. The president said that World AIDS Day is commemorated each year to reiterate their pledge to combat the HIV epidemic by promoting awareness, facilitating the uptake of preventive and treatment services and taking steps to address disease-associated stigma and discrimination.



Each year, he said, this disease claims thousands of lives around the world. Pakistan, he added, was not immune and is facing a growing challenge from this menace.

Alvi said that multi-sectoral engagement, equity and respect for human rights, social justice and access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services are the cornerstones of an effective HIV response.

He further said World AIDS Day calls for concerted efforts and engagement by all segments of the society including academia, religious scholars, media and civil society to join hands in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

“I take this opportunity to reiterate the government’s commitment to work towards the elimination of HIV and AIDS in the country. The federal and provincial governments are cognizant of their responsibilities and accord high priority to the prevention and treatment of this disease,” he stated.

Impact on population

Every year, as many as 150,000 people fall prey to the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the world, stated Federal Health Minister Aamer Mehmood Kiani.

Addressing a ceremony held to mark World AIDS Day, he said that the day was aimed at creating awareness about this deadly disease.

In this regard, he said that 33 centres were working across the country to curb the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS.

“Efforts are being geared up to control the rapid spread of the disease countrywide, as the number of AIDS cases continue to increase,” the Kiani maintained.

According to a report submitted in October before the Supreme Court by the Attorney General’s office, around 132,000 people in Pakistan are suffering from AIDS.

According to this report, 130 citizens in Jalalpur Jattan are infected with HIV/AIDS, making this the highest concentration of AIDS infected people in the country.

The report further states that around 60,000 people from Punjab, 52,000 from Sindh, and 17,000 each in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Islamabad suffer from AIDS.



According to a United Nations report, every three minutes a girl between the age of 15 and 19-years-of-age is affected by the virus. As per the statistics determined by UNICEF, AIDS impacts three in five girls.

In 2017, 130,000 people who were 19-years-old or younger died from HIV/ AIDS across the world, while almost 430,000 people at every 50th hour get infected by the virus, the agency informed.

The data revealed that deaths due to HIV/AIDS have decreased since 2010, in all supplementary age groups.

Almost 1.2 million people aged between 15 to 19 years-old are alive with the immune system-destroying virus in 2017.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2018.