Pakistan fears AIDS could spread in general population

Hafeez Nauman is leading a life of seclusion and shame after recently being deported from a European country where he contracted AIDS, but remains determined to fight it. (AN photo by Aamir Shah)

ISLAMABAD: Hafeez Nauman is leading a life of seclusion and shame having recently been deported from a European country where he contracted AIDS. But he is determined to fight it.
He has been receiving regular treatment from a government facility, but is dismayed about the attitude of his friends and family.
“I have been made to feel outcast by my friends and family members,” Nauman, 43, told Arab News, while expressing his resolve to fight the disease and create awareness of it through social media and other available platforms.
Nauman urged all HIV/AIDS patients in the country to get treatment to save their lives despite the social stigma attached to it. “People need to understand that AIDS is a disease like other diseases and one can lead a normal life by getting regular treatment,” he said.
Pakistan is the second largest country in South Asia and stands only a few steps behind India and Nepal in terms of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but it still fails to make the priority list of the government.
According to a latest Integrated Biological and Behavioral Surveillance (IBBS) in Pakistan, an estimated 133,529 people across the country have been living with the disease. The survey report says HIV/AIDS prevalence in the general population remains less than 1 percent, but an increase in the number has been noted in all key population areas, with a risk of the disease spreading in the general population through sexual networks.
Dr. Quaid Saeed, senior program coordinator at the National AIDS Control Programme, told Arab News the disease is rapidly spreading while the government’s focus remains limited to those who inject drugs.
“Once the disease spreads in the general population like hepatitis, it will be difficult to control,” he said, adding that they need to focus on sexual networks in the country to prevent the endemic.
Saeed said his department has been devising a strategy for 2018-20 to provide treatment and create awareness among prostitutes and brothels through community-based organizations.
He also revealed that his department is solely dependent on grants from Global Fund for treatment and awareness of the disease as the government is not releasing a penny for it.
The AIDS control program requires at least $216 million for five years to prevent the epidemic in Pakistan while it is getting a mere $35 million from the Global Fund, he said.
“The financial gap is too wide, but we are still trying our best to control the disease and treat the maximum number of patients at the treatment centers,” he said.
According to the official data, as many as 20,660 AIDS patients are registered with the National AIDS Control Programme, while 11,080 of them are getting treatment from 26 treatment centers established across the country.
Dr. Muhammad Saqlain, a specialist and volunteer to treat HIV/AIDS patients, told Arab News the government’s estimation of the disease’s prevalence is based on computer software that is factually incorrect.
He said the number of HIV/AIDS patients is much higher, especially in the rural areas of Punjab and Sindh provinces, than the government’s estimation.
“The disease won’t be controlled unless the government takes steps to create awareness about it at the village and town level,” he said, “and provides free medicines to AIDS patients at district level like it did to cure tuberculosis.”
Saqlain said AIDS is an infectious disease and people carrying the virus have been spreading it unknowingly, especially in rural areas of the country, through sexual networks.
The HIV prevalence in various key populations in Pakistan is noted as people who inject drugs (38.4 percent), transgender sex workers (7.5 percent), male sex workers (5.2 percent), male homosexuals (5.1 percent) and female sex workers (2.2 percent), according to the IBBS.
The UNAIDS data says there were 36.7 million people in 2016 living with HIV, including 17.8 million women and 2.1 million children. In 2016, one million people died from AIDS-related illnesses worldwide, compared to 1.9 million in 2005 and 1.5 million in 2010.
Moazzam Ali, joint secretary of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, told Arab News that the international community has made a significant achievement in alleviating high morbidity and mortality related to HIV/AIDS and it is a matter of concern for Pakistan to see the disease spreading.
“We are taking all possible measures to control the disease through awareness and treatment with the help of international donors and partners,” he said.
However, he admitted the National Aids Control Programme will be able to provide treatment to only 15 percent of the people identified through the recent countrywide survey owing to lack of funds.