January 8, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 4, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: Dr Nafis Sadik, former executive director of UNFPA and currently special envoy of the secretary-general of the United Nations on HIV/AIDS in Asia said that although Pakistan was not a high-prevalence country for the disease, there was no room for complacency.

Dr Nafis Sadik called on Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri here on Tuesday. During the meeting the FM paid tributes to the meritorious services rendered by Dr Sadik in the field of population and HIV/AIDS, as the executive director of UNFPA and now as special envoy of the secretary-general.

Dr Sadik said that in order to prevent a difficult situation in the coming decades, politicians, community leaders, educators, parents and youth must be mobilized. She also commended the efforts undertaken by the federal and provincial governments that had started producing results.

Kasuri briefed Dr Sadik on the steps taken by the government to arrest the increasing trend of HIV infections in the country. This included the initiation of the National Aids Control Programme, the umbrella project, to curb the disease as well as the recent promulgation of an ordinance on safe blood transfusion.

The FM also enumerated the policies adopted by the government and hoped for continued cooperation between Pakistan and the concerned UN agencies, particularly UNFPA, UN AIDS and WHO. He assured her of the government‘s commitment to the causes of combating HIV/AIDS and managing a sustainable population growth rate in the country.