PESHAWAR: ‘HIV/AIDS can be checked through awareness drive’
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Aug 14: NWFP Health Minister Inayatullah Khan has said that the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS and their fast spread could be dealt with through public awareness programmes.
“It is a challenging task before us to protect ourselves from HIV/AIDS. But creating awareness about the issues involved holds the key,” he said at a press conference the other day.
The minister said the problem was initially concentrated among users of injectable drugs and other vulnerable groups but was now reported to have been prevalent among the general population.
He said that reuse of syringes, screening of blood bags before transfusion and illicit sexual relations were among the major causative agents of the condition.
Mr Khan said that the provincial government had taken concrete measures to cope with the menace of HIV/Aids, he added. The NWFP and the Federally-Administered Tribal Area (Fata) had recorded about 465 patients most of whom had contracted in ailment during overseas jobs in Gulf countries.
The provincial government had arranged workshops and seminars in which Ulema and media persons were especially invited to share information about Aids with people, he informed.
The minister said that the provincial government had prepared a large scale plan for Aids protection for which the World Bank would provide interest free loan.
