January 30, 2006	Monday	Zilhaj 29, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 29: Members of the Senate, National Assembly and provincial assemblies, as well as parliamentarians from Canada, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Thailand, will attend a two-day international seminar on HIV and Aids, beginning on Monday, to find ways and means to counter the growing threat from the deadly virus.

The seminar has been organized jointly by the United Nations, the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) and the Aga Khan University.

In Pakistan, 80,000-90,000 people are suffering from HIV infections while the number of the registered HIV patients is around 3,000, according to Dr Aldo Landi, Country Coordinator of the UNAIDS, who was addressing a press conference at the Sindh Assembly building on Sunday. He attributed the registration of quiet of few of the HIV patients to the lack of awareness in Pakistani population.

Dr Landi informed the newsmen that the PGA, which had 114 parliaments under its umbrella, was deeply concerned at the findings of the UNAIDS and the WHO suggesting that Pakistan could be on the verge of crisis viz-a-viz the HIV.

Sindh Assembly Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, who had called the press conference, gave the background of the seminar. MNA Naveed Qamar, who is also a member of the PGA, highlighted the importance of creating awareness of the HIV/Aids in the country.

The number of people living with HIV in many under-developed countries had reached its highest level in the history with 40.3 million cases of such infections reported globally, which is double the number of case recorded until 10 years back.

Syed Muzaffar Shah said that in an effort to address the looming crisis, the parliamentarians at the seminar would discuss draft policies on HIV/Aids and the question of how to counter the stigma and discrimination that had been affecting the lives of the people living with the disease.

He said the seminar would reassess the commitments made by legislators in the Islamabad Declaration of Action that had been announced at the end of the PGA’s January 2005 seminar on the subject.

Dr Nafis Sadik, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on HIV/Aids in Asia and the Pacific, will present the keynote address at the inaugural ceremony while the speakers at the opening session would include Dr Noorjehan Panezai, Chairperson of the PGA National Group, and Sen Raynell Andreychuk of Canada.

In reply to a question, Mr Shah said that parliamentarians could play an important role in creating awareness in their respective communities about the reality and the myth attached to the disease by involving NGOs, social workers and certain other groups in the efforts towards containing the spread of the disease.

In reply to another question, he said that it was a social issue across the globe, and stressed the need for not only enacting legislation but also for involving everyone in the crusade against the HIV/Aids to check the problem effectively.

Mr Naveed Qamar said that if a legislation on blood screening for HIV infection was implemented, it would be applicable on every citizen, including parliamentarians.