ISLAMABAD: Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday said Pakistan currently had 84,000 registered HIV cases while no case had been reported from Taunsa this year.

Taunsa, a city in Punjab, has been in the headlines in recent days, after an investigation by BBC revealed that “serious malpractices” in the children’s ward of a government hospital there continued months after the facility was linked to an outbreak of HIV among children.

A surge in HIV cases at Taunsa Tehsil Headquarters Hospital was reported in late 2024. “Punjab authorities promised a crackdown – but months later, secret filming by BBC Eye Investigations found that children’s lives were still being put at risk,” the broadcaster said.

In its rebuttal to the report, the Punjab health department said all cases mentioned in the report were reported in December 2024 or in 2025, for which action had already been taken.

It has now been reported that a team from the Global Fund (GF) could possibly visit Pakistan to examine the rising number of HIV cases in Pakistan. The GF is a partnership and financing organisation that raises and invests funds to fight HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Kamal claimed the GF was providing over 90 per cent of funds meant for combatting HIV in Pakistan to non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

He said NGOs were not answerable to the government, adding that they did not share their data with the health ministry on the “pretext of confidentiality”.

According to Kamal, the GF allocated $65 million for Pakistan under the 2024-2026 programme.

“Out of the total amount, $3.9m were given to the government while $61.1m were disbursed to two organisations — the United Nations Development Programme and an NGO, Nai Zindagi,” he said.

“While complete details regarding the funds received by the government are available, the ministry does not have information regarding the utilisation of funds by the other entities. NGOs have refused to share the details,” he claimed.

And the government “has no say” in the disbursement of the $61.1m, he added.

The minister said the number of centres for screening HIV in Pakistan had increased from 49 in 2020 to 97 in 2025. “In 2020, 37,944 individuals were screened at 49 centers, with 6,910 testing positive. By 2025, the number of centres increased to 97, where 374,126 tests were conducted, and 14,182 positive cases were detected,” he elaborated.

He said Pakistan currently had 84,000 registered HIV cases, among whom 61,000 patients were under treatment and the remaining had not been traced.

He added that no new HIV case was reported in Taunsa this year while 618 cases were registered in Islamabad.

“According to an estimate by experts, the [actual] number of HIV cases in Pakistan could be as high as 369,000. However, the current prevalence rate remains 0.1 per cent, which is lower than the global average of 0.5pc,” he said.

The minister reaffirmed government’s commitment and continued efforts to prevent the spread of HIV, expand screening, and improve access to treatment facilities across the country.