PESHAWAR, March 29: The government is considering plans to include information about preventive measures against HIV/Aids and other diseases in school and college curriculum, an official said on Wednesday.

NWFP Education and Literacy Special Secretary Shafiullah Khan said at a workshop on ‘Aids is not an individual problem, it is a social problem’ that a meeting had been held between the federal and provincial education ministries in this regard.

The workshop was held for executive district officers, education, by the provincial Aids Control Programme. On the occasion, a manual prepared by the health ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation for teachers about preventive measures against HIV/Aids was launched.

Mr Khan said collaboration between health and education departments should be the cornerstone of Aids prevention strategies and the role of teachers in this regard was of immense significance.

Provincial health minister Inayatullah Khan said: “A poor country like ours cannot afford the high cost of treatment. The only option with us is to adopt preventive steps against all disease, including Aids.”

Provincial Aids Control Programme Manager Dr Mohammad Zaffar said: “Infected women should avoid pregnancies and breastfeeding.”

He said the country had recorded 3,073 HIV/Aids cases but according to UNAIDS estimates the number could be as high as 130,000 if all people were screened for the disease.

He said an antiretroviral therapy centre had been set up at the Hayatabad Medical Complex for symptomatic treatment of HIV/Aids patients.

World Health Organisation’s provincial programme officer Dr Rajwal Khan said the WHO was supporting the government in spreading information about the ailment.

Director of the Razi Institute, Dr Mohammad Iqbal Khalil, said teachers and religious scholars could be used as strong weapons against the disease.