PESHAWAR, March 2: Experts have called upon media representatives to follow ethical practices whenever they write or report about people living with HIV/Aids to prevent sufferers from being stigmatised.

“Confidentiality and informed consent should be at the centre stage while reporting sensitive public health issues such as HIV/Aids,” said Qamrul Islam Siddiqui of the National Aids Control Programme.

He was addressing a workshop organised by the NWFP Aids Control Programme to educate representatives from the print and electronic media on ethical questions about reporting on Aids cases here on Thursday.

According to him, journalists were required to create an environment through their stories and articles where the HIV/Aids people could live with honour and respect. He said that there were numerous instances in which the society looked down upon Aids patients.

He said Aids patients were often seen as sinners even though there were other known modes of transmission of the disease besides sexual contact. It is more an issue of politics, development, human rights, religion and economy than public health, because of the 52 million people infected worldwide, 3.2 million happened to be below the age of 15, he added.

He said that Pakistan had so far recorded 3,073 patients, including 2,741 HIV positive and 332 full-blown Aids cases. Of these, he said, 72 per cent were deportees.

Journalist Huma Khawar was of the view that non-existence of an appropriate language was the main hindrance in the way of correct reporting on HIV/Aids issues.

“Media people should be clear-minded about issues they write about so they can inject motivation rather than convey hopelessness,” she said. Encouragement of HIV/Aids coverage with due support to the patients could break the silence that has marred the highlighting of the disease so far, she added.

With the launching of anti-retroviral therapy centres in the country, she said, people living with HIV/Aids can now lead normal lives. Aids claimed 2.5 million lives last year and was spreading with an alarming pace.

Manager of the NWFP Aids Control Programme, Dr Mohammad Zaffar, said that people should insist on the use of sterilised syringes while getting injectable drugs. He said that avoidance of unsafe sex, use of unsterilised syringes and transfusion of unscreened bloods and its products were the measures that ensured protection from the Aids that had infected about 460 patients.

Dr Rajwal Khan of the WHO said that his organisation was supporting the government and the media in efforts to create awareness about the disease and do away with the stigma associated with it.

Deputy manager of the NWFP Aids Control Programme Dr Nasreen Akbar Khan said that although there was neither any vaccine nor any treatment for Aids, it was still preventable through a positive attitude towards the infected people.

She said that intravenous drug users, long-distance truckers, sex workers and prisoners were at risk of getting Aids. She said that there was ratio of 7:1 (men: women) among the infected people, but said that women require more support.

“Infected women should avoid pregnancies, because newborn babies could be also be HIV positive,” she said.

NWFP Health Minister Inayatullah Khan urged journalists to refrain from sensationalism while reporting Aids-related issues and file positive and informative stories.

“It’s not merely the responsibility of the government to raise the level of awareness about public health issues, but everyone living in the society has to pay his or her part,” he said.

He said that he had already approached the NACP to include hepatitis in the Aids programme, because both the diseases had a similar mode of transmission.