PESHAWAR, Dec 15: Even though the number of HIV/Aids cases registered in the country so far is 3,591, the actual figure, according to the UNAID, will be as high as 1,50,000, said Dr Khizar Hayat, Manager of NWFP Aids Consortium (NAC).

"Of the total, 369 are full-blown Aids cases while 3,324 are suffering from HIV," he said while speaking at a one-day media workshop on the role of media in controlling the spread of HIV/Aids in Pakistan at the Peshawar Press Club on Friday.

“People are reluctant to get themselves screened for the disease because of the social stigma attached with it,” said Dr Hayat.

Society should encourage Aids patients to declare their ailment, he said.

The government had started free treatment at the Hayatabad Medical Complex but the number of patients was very small because the targeted population was not made aware of the free treatment facility, he said, adding that greater media coverage of issues related to HIV/Aids could do away with the social stigma attached with the disease.

Citing a study conducted in several cities of the country, the NAC manager said injection drug users (IDUs) were the most vulnerable group. Of the total registered Aids/HIV patients in Karachi, 27 per cent happened to be IDUs as against 0.4 per cent only four years ago, he added.

Media should inform people to insist on the transfusion of screened blood and the use of new syringe, he said. Aids-related news should be reported in such a way that the sentiments of the patients were not hurt, he added.

Speaking as chief guest, Shamim Shahid, a local journalist, stressed the need for making authentic data about the disease available to newsmen.

"Even though local media is not much interested in health issues, good reports, supported by authentic data, do create space for themselves," he said.

He described as unfortunate the general perception that Aids is only caused by sexual practices and that its patients are sinners.

“Lack of awareness, poverty and absence of proper diagnostic and treatment facilities in the country are hampering efforts aimed at controlling the spread of the disease,” he said.

Others who spoke on the occasion stressed the need for access of newsmen to credible information about the disease so that good stories could appear in print.