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| June 12, 2005 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1426 |
Govt alone can’t control spread of Aids: experts
PESHAWAR, June 11: Doctors and health workers posted in Fata have been urged to collect data about the people deported from the UAE on account of having acquired HIV/Aid. This was stated on Saturday on the concluding day of a two-day training workshop, which was organized by the HIV/Aids control programme, Fata, for doctors and nurses of Fata hospitals with a view to raising awareness regarding the fatal disease.
Dr Bilal Ahmad, deputy manager of the NWFP HIV/Aids Control Programme, said that the government alone could not control the spread of HIV/Aids and asked all stakeholders, including donor agencies, media and social organizations, to come forward and help them in raising awareness about one of the world’s most deadly diseases.
He said that the total number of HIV/Aids patients in the NWFP was 450 while the total number of patients from tribal areas was 360 who were between the ages of 20 and 49.
He said that in Fata, Kurram agency was on the top having 49 HIV/Aids cases, followed by North Waziristan Agency having seven patients and Khyber Agency having six patients.
He stressed the need for health workers to understand the problems being faced by the management and told them to keep in mind the tribal norms and traditions while educating the people about the modes of the disease’s transmission.
He further said that the main objective of the training was to build up the capacity of Fata health professionals so that they could work in the community and collect proper data about the situation on the ground.
The doctor also reminded them that being a social stigma most of the patients were trying to keep secret their ailments and only those health professionals having proper training could convince them to disclose to society so that it could not be transferred to other human beings.
Local sexologist Dr Muzafar Tareen stressed the need to adopt safe sex practices to stem the tide of the ailment.
He said that there were at least 40 types of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) but even health professionals did not know anything about the STIs which had exacerbated the problem.
He gave tips to the participants on how to recognize STIs and what treatment should be advised to the patients.
Dr Tareen said that it was difficult to talk of STIs in a conservative society like Fata but it was not impossible.
He suggested that community elders should be involved in the campaign against STIs to prevent HIV/Aids from becoming a major problem.
The manager of the HIV/Aids control programme, Dr Iftikhar Ali also spoke on the occasion. He said that these workshops were meant to educate the high-risk population of Fata regarding the pandemic so they could adopt preventive measures.
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