KARACHI, Sept 27: Speakers of a seminar on Wednesday stressed the need for giving full information to masses, especially youth, about HIV-AIDS, besides their preventive measures and treatment.

The seminar on “HIV-AIDS” was arranged by the sociology department, University of Karachi, in collaboration with Sindh Government's HIV-AIDS Control Programme here.

Project Officer WHO Dr Salman Safdar said that the basic cause for holding of such seminars was to raise awareness among masses.

He said according to the statistics collected from rural areas of the Sindh, 80 per cent people just only knew name of the disease, HIV-AIDS, and did not know about its treatment and preventive measures.

He said some 12282 addicts of injected drugs, 11546 female and 5687 male sex workers were present across the province. He added that they needed awareness regarding dangers of the disease and on emergency basis.

The HIV tests of 1500 people were found positive, out of them six were suffering from AIDS in Sindh, he informed adding 26 per cent tests of those using injected drugs were also found positive. They could fall prey to AIDS anytime, so provision of full information was more essential for them, he added.Prof Farah Iqbal said awareness and treatment process could not move forward without participation of community members and leaders.

Deputy Programme Manager Dr Qamar Abbas and Students' Advisor Raana Saba also spoke.—PPI