PESHAWAR, Dec 1: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child will launch a week-long awareness campaign about Aids. During the campaingn , the society's teams will visit schools in eight districts of the province and inform students about preventive measures against the disease.

The society's Deputy Chief Coordinator Arshad Mahmood said at a news conference on Wednesday, that the disease was spreading and children were at a risk of getting infected.

He said the campaign to be carried out through the society's Child Rights Committees would focus on the vulnerability of children to HIV/Aids and providing tips to them about precautionary steps in this regard.

He said children who indulged in scavenging medical waste faced a high risk of getting infected. He stressed that the disease was preventable if people were aware of the precautionary measures.

The society's resource person Nigat Kamdar said the government was not doing enough to stop the disease from spreading. She criticized the lack of counselling and treatment facilities at the public sector hospitals. "Recently an HIV-positive pregnant woman was denied admission to the labour rooms of teaching hospitals of the city," she said.