December 02, 2007	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 21, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: The strategy and PC-1 for the Aids control programme is being revised to tackle the spread of the disease more effectively in the country.

After attending a ceremony to mark the World Aids Day, jointly organised by the USAID-funded HIV/Aids Prevention and Care Project and the National Aids Control Programme, federal Minister for Health Ejaz Rahim said the programme’s coverage of injecting drug users (IDUs) would be enhanced to 80 per cent under the revised PC-1, while for other risk groups it would be increased to 60 per cent.

Pakistan, hitherto known as low-prevalence country, has transitioned to one with a concentrated epidemic among the IDUs.

According to a recent UN estimate, the prevalence of HIV among the IDUs was about 16 per cent. Around 3,000 Pakistanis are believed to have died of Aids.

As many as 85,000 people in the country may be carrying the infection, but only 2 per cent of them were receiving treatment.

The minister said that all was not lost yet and the opportunity to limit the infection rate should be availed. “The epidemic has not yet spread to the general public and concerted efforts are needed to stop it.”

The ministry of health is in the process of convening a conference of development partners and stakeholders sometime later in the month to discuss the spread of Aids, tuberculosis and malaria in the country; review the national strategy for dealing with the diseases; and developing a close interaction between international and local models for health interventions.