NWTD has most AIDS patients in all tribal areas

People urged to adopt precautionary measures against the disease

BAJAUR: The North Waziristan Tribal District has the most registered AIDS patients, 190, as compared to other newly-merged tribal districts.

This was disclosed during an awareness seminar organised by the AIDS Control Programme and the Health Services Directorate of the Newly Merged Tribal Districts (NMTDs) at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) in Khar area of Bajaur on Sunday.

Addressing the seminar, Bajaur District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Khalilur Rehman stated that precautionary measures should be adopted to prevent the disease from spreading. These precautions, he said, include using safe sexual practices, avoiding reuse of syringes, using properly tested blood for blood transfusions, and the use of sterilised medical goods.

The AIDS Control Programme said that as many as 738 people are registered as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata). Of these, 190 are in North Waziristan, 148 in Kurram, 130 in Khyber, 113 in South Waziristan, 62 in Mohmand, 61 in Bajaur and 34 in the Orakzai tribal district.

AIDS Control Programme Focal Person Nadir Khan warned that the number of AIDS patients has been rising steadily in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) to some 12,000 registered patients across the province, including 800 in Peshawar alone — which has been tagged as the most-affected region and an epicentre for AiDS.

Nadir explained that the main reason behind the explosion of AIDS in the province is that people do not take precautionary measures.

He added that the provincial government has set up as many as three centres to diagnose and treat AIDS. These centres are located in South Waziristan tribal district, Kurram tribal district and the Bajaur tribal district.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2019.