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HIV/Aids cases on the rise
A dangerous situation has emerged in Sindh vis-a-vis HIV/ Aids infections and there is an urgent need for multi-sectoral collaboration to combat the menace.
These views were expressed recently by speakers at a workshop organised by the Sindh Aids Control Programme at the PMA House during which the results of behavioural and biological surveillance conducted among female sex workers (FSWs), male sex workers (MSW), eunuch sex workers (ESW) and injectable drug users (IDUs) in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur were also discussed.
According to the report, the IDUs were at a high risk of contracting HIV/Aids, while MSWs as well as ESWs were consistently turning HIV positive. In the case of FSWs, it was said that HIV positive female workers had been reported for the first time in Sindh.
The high-risk groups (HRGs) — IDUs, MSWs, ESWs and FSWs — were linked and therefore posed a serious threat to the general population, said the report. The study was carried out from September 2005 to December 2005 at different hotspots in the three cities where HRGs congregate.
In Karachi, 198 MSWs, 188 ESWs and 389 FSWs were interviewed and examined by members of the surveillance teams, of which 8 (4 per cent), 3 (1.5 per cent) and 3 (0.7 per cent) respectively were found HIV positive. According to an earlier survey, 26 per cent of the IDUs were found infected.
In Sukkur, 19.6 per cent of the IDUs, 1.7 per cent of the ESWs and 0.2 per cent of the FSWs were found HIV positive. In Hyderabad, 25.8 per cent of the IDUs and 1 per cent of the ESWs included in the surveillance sample were found infected. No MSW and FSW in Hyderabad and no MSW in Sukkur was found infected.
According to the report, more than 50 per cent IDUs in Hyderabad and Sukkur were above 30 years of age.
Talks with US
Pakistan opened formal talks in Washington earlier this week with a focus on seeking US cooperation for developing non-nuclear means of energy. “Pakistan has large coal reserves in Thar and we want to exploit those resources,” Ambassador Mahmud A. Durrani told a group of Pakistani journalists.
A US official also confirmed that the talks would concentrate on “non-nuclear sources of energy”. Neither of the two key members of the US team — Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy and International Affairs Karen Harbert and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Business and Economic Affairs Paul Simons — is competent to deal with requests for nuclear technology as such matters were discussed at a higher level.
The Pakistani delegation led by Mukhtar Ahmed, energy adviser to the prime minister, does not include any expert on nuclear technology.
Air Marshal (retired) Shahid Hamid, one of the key members of the team, is chairman of the Alternate Energy Development Board while another senior member, Hilal Raza, heads the Pakistan Hydrocarbon Development Board. “We need the skills necessary to exploit our reserves optimally,” said Ambassador Durrani when asked what Pakistan sought from the US.
Filtration plants
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said the government is committed to providing safe drinking water to the entire population and 6,036 water filtration plants, costing more than Rs7.8 billion, would be installed by December 2007 throughout the country.
Presiding over a meeting earlier this week over progress made under the “Safe Drinking Water for All” project, the premier said water-borne diseases were one of the worst hazards for public health and providing safe water to all by 2007 was among the top priorities of his government.
The programme was part of the preventive strategy of the government for a healthier and more vibrant Pakistan, the prime minister said. He added that in the first phase of the programme, 500 water purification plants would be made operational by the end of 2006.
The government would continue to expand the programme and plans for the third phase were being finalised. The premier asked the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources to identify high-risk cities and to coordinate with provincial and district governments to come up with a comprehensive plan to tackle the problem.
Avian flu
The prime minister has constituted a joint steering committee for the prevention and control of avian and pandemic influenza. Health Minister, M. Nasir Khan, and Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, will preside over the committee, said a source. — Agencies
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