May 10, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1424

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BHURBAN, May 9: AIDS is a silent killer and if attention is not paid to it soon, Pakistan will have a big problem on its hands. Only about 2,000 cases of HIV or AIDS have been confirmed in the country so far but between 70,000 and 80,000 people may already have been infected. Certain groups in Pakistan society are at considerable risk of being infected with the virus that cases AIDS.

These views were expressed by speakers at a two-day workshop on AIDS and HIV which was organized by the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Unicef and UNAIDS — a consortium of international agencies that are collaborating in the area of AIDS prevention.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the workshop, the current chairman of UNAIDS, Mr Johannes Lokollo, said that Pakistan was a low prevalence but high risk country. That’s why the country had a small window of opportunity in which the dreaded syndrome may be stopped in its tracks.

The representative of the International Labour Organization informed the audience that the world had 42 million people living either with AIDS or HIV and more than 4 million cases had been reported from South Asia.

India had more than 3.8 million people who were living with HIV. He said Pakistan with a little bit of effort could become a shining example for the world in the area of AIDS prevention.

Qamarul Islam Siddiqui said more than 50 per cent of the people having HIV indulged in sex with the opposite gender. But at the same time a big proportion of the cases involved people who had been infected through transfusion of unsafe blood. Similarly, many people were infected through use of contaminated instruments of shaving etc.

Dr Samia Hashmi on the occasion pointed out that 1,765 cases of HIV had been confirmed in the country. And 233 cases involved people having full-blown AIDS.

She underscored the need for wide awareness among the people. A good role, she said, could be played in this regard by media.

Nabila Zaka explained how people got infected with HIV. She pointed out that people didn’t get infected through saliva or tears. Similarly HIV/AIDS couldn’t be transmitted through transfer of droplets from one person to another.

She explained in detail how people got infected when they shared needles or syringes with people who indulged in risky behaviour. Participants who belonged to the national print and electronic media took active part in the interactive sessions of the two-day event.

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