415 HIV cases reported in K-P in 2019

Govt to put up banners and posters about the causes of the virus and its prevention

PESHAWAR: The number of HIV-positive cases has increased in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, with the total rising to as many as 4,600 patients, with 415 being reported in the past year.

According to records of the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), those who have tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) include some 3,000 men and over a thousand women and 25 people who are transgender. Among the 415 cases registered this year, 330 are men, 84 are women and a person who is transgender.

Those individuals who collect junk and drug addicts make up the bulk of those affected by the virus. Most of the women, officials said, suffer owing to transfusion of infected blood and poor equipment used during childbirth.

The virus also transmits from affected parents to children.

Meanwhile, of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan has directed the provincial health department to run a special awareness campaign in the province.

In this regard, the government will put up banners about how the virus spreads, what are the preventive measures and how to deal with it after contracting the virus.

The health minister said that HIV is an incurable disease but the government is providing free healthcare facilities to registered patients who have been diagnosed with the virus.

He added 4.5 per cent of all HIV cases reported around the country is from the province. He added that those patients who are infected undergo regular blood tests at hospitals so that the virus can be detected and the patient can be treated promptly.

He urged the public to adopt preventive measures against the deadly virus.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2019.