KARACHI, Jan 26: Data shows that HIV in Pakistan is spreading slowly and there is a dire need to check the risks posed by injection drug users (IDUs), reuse of syringes and to make blood transfusion safer.

These views were expressed by Dr Sten H.Vermund, Institute for Global Health and Department of Paediatrics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, while delivering a lecture on HIV in Pakistan: an outsider’s perspective, at the Aga Khan University on Friday.

Also, efforts are needed to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in high risk populations, he added.

Dr Vermund said that around 38.6 million people were reportedly infected with HIV in 2005 around the globe with the sub-Saharan Africa the most affected region while the estimated number of HIV infected people in Asia was over 8 million.

About Pakistan, he said, though the HIV prevalence data was limited and expected to be less than 0.5 per cent, there had been a gradual increase in the number of infected persons.

In January 2004, the seroprevalence among the IDUs in three separate cities, including Karachi, was 0.5 per cent, which increased to 23 to 25 per cent last year.

The same trend was noticed in male sex workers and transvestites.

He said that Pakistan must learn from Uganda where religious leaders were a vital part of a campaign successfully combating HIV.

Antiretroviral therapy, check on IDUs and controlling the spread of STDs, prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child, voluntary counseling and treatment are the keys to prevention, Dr Vermund suggested.—Staff Reporter