PESHAWAR, April 16: The people proceeding abroad in connection with seeking job need to be educated regarding the precautionary measures in order not to get infected with the deadly disease of HIV/AIDS.

This was stated by Dr Ahmad Ali, provincial manager of the HIV/AID control programme, at a seminar arranged by the health department to sensitise members of the travel agents association here on Wednesday.

According to him, the overseas Pakistani workers were the main cause of spreading the disease back home.

Dr Ali said the government had directed to provide the passengers with booklets on HIV/AIDS before they embarked on the flight. For this purpose, he said, the government had been holding workshops and seminars to educate the people regarding the preventive measures about HIV/AIDS to save the people from the killer disease.

Encouraging response from the people towards the efforts of the government spoke volumes of the people’ interest in the campaign against the deadly disease.

Another speaker said the Civil Aviation Authority should allow pasting and banners at the airports so that the people could read them before entering the lounge, and in this way they would be able to save themselves from the deadly disease while working abroad.

According to him, many of the workers, specially those working in the UAE and Middle East countries, indulged in sex with professional sex workers from whom they contracted HIV/AIDS.

“When such workers are deported from these countries on account of HIV/AIDS, they put the lives of their wives and children at stake, because their wives do not know anything about the disease.”

He asked the government to contact the governments in foreign countries in order to get information about any person deported on the basis of HIV/AIDS. This, he said, would save others from falling victim to the disease.