ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: The deadly virus that causes the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (Aids) daily infects 10 more people around the globe.

This was observed by World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Pakistan, Dr Khalif Bile Mohammad here on the World AIDS Day on Saturday.

The slogan chosen for the anti-Aids campaign is “I care... do you?”, Dr Mohammad said in his message on the occasion.

The WHO official observed that victims of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) had no option but to live with a number of fatal diseases like cancers, tuberculosis (TB) and await a painful death.

Today, a total of 40 million men, women and children are living with the HIV, about a third of whom belong to the age group of 15 to 24 years. Despite the use of potent medicines, three million people, including 580,000 under the age of 15, have died of this disease.

Unlike the viruses of polio and measles, HIV has no vaccine. “The only vaccine available is education, information and adherence to our religious values,” he commented.

The WHO representative said the anti-Aids campaign aimed to involve men, particularly young men, in national responses to the epidemic.

The focus is on men, who are less likely to seek health care and are at a high risk of contracting the disease because they migrate for work and live away from their families becoming prone to sexually aggressive behaviour towards women.

Therefore, men have much to contribute in the anti-Aids campaign as politicians and front-line workers, fathers, brothers, husbands and friends.

The young people, at the heart of the epidemic, were particularly ill-informed about the modes of disease transmission and prevention, the WHO representative regretted.

Therefore, there was a need for men from all walks of life, including politicians, parents and religious leaders, to break the ice and play their due role in combating the onslaught of HIV/Aids.

Although Pakistan had a low HIV/Aids prevalence with the HIV infection mainly restricted to high-risk groups, it provided no ground for complacency as the disease may trickle down to the general population, he said.

The people, particularly the young generation, need to know that HIV is transmitted by the sexual act, by the transfusion of infected blood and blood products, by sharing the infected needles or syringes and through infected mothers to babies, Dr Mohammad said.