KARACHI, Oct 11: At the moment the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is quite low in the country. But the risk of sharp increase in prevalence is considerable because of lack of health education and poor regulation of the health sector.

So said an expert at a debate on Update on Women’s Health which was held in the PMA House on Saturday afternoon. To drive home her point, Dr Nighat Shah pointed out that according to several reports, many cases of HIV/AIDS had been detected among drug addicts in Larkana recently.

Dr Shah was of the opinion that the prevalence of STDs could be kept within reasonable limits through sex education which should be made a part of the medical colleges’ curriculums as soon as possible. Elaborating, she said sex education did not just involve certain instructions about the acts as such but a whole gamut of information on issues like puberty, menarche (onset of periods), pregnancy, and growth of male and female population, etc.

The doctor claimed that unless appropriate steps were taken soon, the HIV/AIDS would become a serious problem for the country. To keep the healthcare costs at a minimum, she said, adequate amounts should be spent on prevention of diseases.

“Each rupee spent on prevention saves four rupees in actual healthcare costs,” she remarked. The authorities should learn lessons from the experiences of countries like Thailand.

Dr Shah was of the view that the country should be able to detect STDs in workers who return from the Middle East. “There should be a mechanism by which we can identify HIV-infected Pakistanis coming from the Middle East and they should be registered as such.”

Dr Aziza Kapadia, in her presentation, highlighted the “three delays” in accessing healthcare workers in pregnancies. “These delays are responsible for the high mortality rate during childbirth.”

The delays she mentioned are caused by socio-economic and cultural makeup of the country. “If these delays can be minimized, thousands of lives can be saved.”

It is not acceptable that a nuclear power like Pakistan should fail utterly in saving the lives of pregnant women. She added that all the women suffering from Vesico Vaginal Fistula, infertility and severe depression after pregnancy should not suffer anymore.

Dr Shershah Syed said that in Pakistan, three women die each hour in childbirth which means that about 30,000 women perish every year. The majority of the deaths were preventable as these were largely caused by non-availability of professional help.

He urged the authorities to increase spending in the health sector.