ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a national health services (NHS) ministry report on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country that found that there are an estimated 150,000 people suffering from the disease, and the number increased by an estimated 20,000 people each year.

A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justicr Mian Saqib Nisar has taken up the case of an HIV/AIDS outbreak in Jalalpur Jattan in Gujrat district. On Tuesday, the bench told representatives of the NHS ministry to submit a new, improved report.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial called the report “a waste of paper” and “completely incomprehensible”.

The SC took up the case when, in June and July 2008, an NGO in Jalalpur Jattan arranged two HIV screening camps where 88 out of 246 screened individuals tested positive for HIV. When the outbreak was investigated by the Pakistan Field Epidemiology Training and Laboratory Training Programme (FELTP), they found that people contracted the disease from the therapeutic use of the same syringe on multiple patients by quacks.

Ministry estimates number of HIV+ people in Pakistan increases by 20,000 every year

The chief justice warned that carelessness in making the report would be dealt with seriously if a better report is not submitted next time. He said that in the current copy it appears as if material was copied and pasted into the report from websites.

The court, however, also ordered for the recommendations to be uploaded onto the NHS ministry and the human rights ministry’s websites to solicit opinions from the public, and to be provided to the office of the attorney general, advocates general of the four provinces and human rights activist Tahir Khilji for comments in 10 days.

An awareness campaign should also be launched, Justice Nisar said, and the report should be released to the media. The media, in turn, should run awareness campaigns in the 10pc slot allotted for public awareness.

In its report to the SC, the NHS said that of 150,000 HIV+ people, approximately 75,000 live in Punjab, 60,000 in Sindh and the remaining 15,000 is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

HIV prevalence, the report said, is concentrated in key populations, such as people who inject drugs and transgender sex workers. It added that an estimated 20,000 new HIV transmissions are added to the country’s pool of HIV every year.

Under the NHS, the report said, a National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) is spearheading the national HIV response and is primarily responsible for providing free anti-retroviral treatment to people living with HIV.

Under the devolved health setup, the role of the NACP has become coordinating the national response, strategic planning, policymaking, programme implementation and providing technical assistance to strengthen provinces’ capacity. However, the shortage of funds has become a roadblock in the programme’s implementation.

To date, the NACP provides free HIV treatment and diagnostic services through 33 HIV treatment centres across the country. In light of updated epidemiological evidence, in 2018 in implemented a key population-specific community-based HIV prevention model for a targeted impact to curb the incidence of new infections and halt HIV transmission, the report said.

The report also suggested the expeditious passage of a bill on HIV treatment, and the development of a framework to reduce stigma and discrimination to be supported by ethical committees at service delivery points.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2018