07 October 2004	Thursday	21 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 6: The Edhi Foundation has launched an awareness campaign against the repeated use of syringes because their reuse fuels the incidence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and hepatitis.

Rizwan Edhi, chief volunteer of the association, told Dawn on Wednesday that under the initiative, several thousand posters/stickers had been produced which were going to be displayed at clinics and hospitals all over the country. The read-and-white sticker/poster says: "The reuse of syringes spreads dangerous diseases, like hepatitis and AIDS."

Mr Edhi said a disposable syringe cost Rs3 only. "But despite the low cost, on average every syringe is used on five patients before it is discarded." He was of the view that this factor was more responsible than any other for the rapid increase in hepatitis and AIDS cases.

He claimed that one in every five Pakistanis suffered from hepatitis. However, the prevalence of HIV was quite low in the general population. Answering a question, Mr Edhi said in the two days since the launch of the initiative some 1,000 posters/stickers had been given away for display at various healthcare centres. More were being printed, he added.

Several studies have shown that sharing of needles is indeed one of the major reasons for the rapid increase in the number of hepatitis cases in the country. Some of these studies were collated by Adeel A. Butt MD, a US-based Pakistani doctor.

One study, cited by him recently, revealed that 80 per cent of the people had never heard of viral hepatitis. And more than 30 per cent were unaware of HIV.

Another study, undertaken at the Sheikh Zayed Hospital, identified the following risk factors for hepatitis: dental procedures, 40 per cent; injections, 17 per cent; surgical procedures, 17 per cent; family history, nine per cent; blood transfusions, seven per cent; and, tattoos, five per cent.