PESHAWAR, Jan 11: The NWFP health department is to launch innovative projects under the World Bank-sponsored enhanced provincial HIV/AIDS control programme, an official told Dawn.

The World Bank has allocated a total grant of Rs2.86 billion to Pakistan to strengthen its HIV/AIDS programmes in all four provinces over a period of five years.

The NWFP, which has so far 414 (361 HIV and 53 AIDS) registered patients, with a ratio of 87:13 (men:women), will spend an amount of Rs230 million to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS through media.

"The main focus would be to take the debate off the streets to policy-making arena and to devise strategy to restrain the ailment from affecting the vulnerable population and containing its spread and stigmatisation of vulnerable group," said Dr Mohammad Javaid Khan, programme manager for HIV/AIDS.

The number of total patients in Pakistan is 2,086 (1,843 HIV and 243 AIDS). The first phase of HIV/AIDS control programme was launched in the province in 1994 that ended in June 2003. The new five-year programme which started in July 2003, has been designed in line with broad-based and latest research to respond to the new challenges posed by the severity of the problem.

Elaborating the strategy, Dr Javaid said plans have been drawn to enhance access to the sexually transmitted infections (STIs) services to the people who are at the risk of contracting the infection and to set in place a health education programme so that the people could pursue safe behaviour and be on the safe side.

Throughout the province, voluntary counselling testing centres would be established at the district level wherein free counselling services would be offered to relevant people, he said, adding that the names and identities of the visitors of these clinics would be kept confidential.

He said the first-ever centre for the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients, Anti-Retroviral (ARV) therapy was also being established to provide symptomatic treatment to the patients.

This would be the first centre of its kind in South Asia, where patients from other provinces would also be offered treatment. "To prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child during deliveries, negotiations were under way to seek donations from the UN agencies and other organisations," said Dr Javaid.

This year's slogan incidentally is: HIV/AIDS and Women, and this would serve as a ray of hope for the HIV-positive women and their newborn babies, he said.

Blood transfusion, which is one of the main factor adding to the HIV/AIDS club, is also one of the priority areas and safe blood transfusion would be ensured by supplying the blood banks with kits to screen the blood before transfusion.

According to him, deliberations were going on with the Health Sector Research and Reform Unit (HSRRU) to establish an HIV/AIDS research centre, which would be a pioneer project and state-of-the-art centre in the country.

"The main and foremost issue in containing the HIV/AIDS is that being a sex-borne disease it carried a big stigma which needed to be done away with," said Dr Javaid. According to him, efforts be made to remove the discriminatory attitude of the society towards the people afflicted with HIV/AIDS.

It has been made mandatory component of the programme to put brakes on the HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination to break the silence and barriers for the effective control and prevention of the dreaded ailment. The fight against HIV/AIDS can be won through removal of the stigma surrounding the ailment, he said.