KARACHI, Nov 27: With an estimated 74,000 HIV infected persons in Pakistan, participants of a workshop on spread of HIV\Aids said the only mean for safety from the virus is to make sure that all people, especially the youth, are not only fully aware of the magnitude of the problem, but also willing to make efforts to contain the spread of the HIV infection.

The participants also called for placing health education on the government’s priority list.

The estimates given by UNAIDS\WHO are based on sero-surveys conducted in various parts of the country and the existing epi- model. The number of officially reported HIV positive cases in Pakistan, up to Dec 2000, was about 1700, they said.

Dr Sarosh Salmaan of the Sindh Aids Control Programme provided a detail of the existing HIV\Aids epidemiology of Sindh in a presentation at the opening session of the three-day interactive workshop on Reducing Migrant Workers’ Vulnerability to HIV\Aids, on Tuesday.

She said 27 new cases of HIV and five cases of Aids were reported in Sindh in the year 2000. The cumulative number of HIV cases reported in the province by Sept last year was 448, while Aids cases figured 81.

Dr Sarosh said it was of utmost importance that awareness about the disease, its spread and the outcome is inculcated at grassroots level without any further delay to prevent any epidemic of HIV\Aids striking the country. She warned that the existing epicentre of HIV\Aids was now in Asia.

In charge of the Sindh Aids Surveillance, Dr Saleem Akhter, spoke about the ‘human tragedy’ of HIV\Aids infection and stressed that prevention was the only key to survival, as no effective treatment of the disease was currently available. He highlighted the multiplying capacity of the disease, saying that a HIV positive person was capable of infecting numerous other people through sex and blood transmission.

He suggested awareness building, counselling of the infected persons and spreading the concept of safe sex and safe blood transfusion as important initial steps in dealing with the problem.

During the interactive discussions, the participants discussed various aspects of HIV\Aids situation and suggested a number of steps for halting the progress of HIV’s spread.

The workshop, organized by the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid in collaboration with the Sindh Aids Control Programme, was attended by representatives of NGOs, CBOs and various trade union organizations.