PESHAWAR, June 5: The HIV/Aids Control Programme in Fata has been revived with a workshop for health professionals working in the seven tribal units. “Our job to raise awareness about HIV/Aids is difficult, but it is not impossible,” said Dr Iftikhar Ali, manager of HIV/Aids Control Programme, at the three–day workshop held here.

“We are giving more attention to preventive measures then to curative ones. As there is no cure for HIV/Aids, the only option with us is to educate people about preventive measures,” he said.

Dr Ali said that the workshops were meant to increase capacity of health workers so that they could devise strategies specific to their environment. He said the role of women in the prevention of the disease in Fata and in the Frontier Regions was of paramount importance because women were the most vulnerable to the disease.

He said village health committees would be established to help the vulnerable groups. He said laboratories in all hospitals in the agency headquarters were offering free diagnostic services for Aids, Hepatitis and other infections.

“A person tested positive would be required to be tested again at Lady Reading Hospital for confirmation,” he said.

Meanwhile doctors on the concluding day of the workshop were urged to take social custom and traditions into account while diagnosing the HIV/Aids patients in Fata.

Dr Iftikhar Ali urged doctors to ensure that the blood donors are screened for HIV/Aids and asked them to spread awareness about the harms associated with re-use of syringes and unsafe sexual practices.

According to him, there were about 200 patients, so far detected in Fata which had a total population of 3.5million. “It’s just tip of the ice-berg, because the people are reluctant to undergo tests for the ailment,” he said. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that there was no NGO in Fata and the sole responsibility to raise the level of peoples’ awareness about the disease rested with the health professionals.

Dr Ali said that series of workshops would continue for two weeks, wherein tips on prevention and diagnosis of the disease would be given to doctors, lady health workers, paramedics and health managers.

“Most of the sufferers in Fata are those who have been deported from the UAE and other countries after having been tested positive for HIV/Aids,” he said and added that there was no screening system at the airports of the country due to which such deportees go unnoticed. Subsequently they infect their wives and children and the vicious cycles continues unabated, he said.

Owing to tribal customs and traditions, the menace of HIV/Aids remains unchecked as people fear to be tested because of the shame associated with the disease.

He said that village health committees would be established in each of the health facilities that would include elders of the area and one doctor. These committees, he said, would educate vulnerable groups, including truck drivers, sex workers and drug addicts on preventive measures. He said a patient diagnosed positive for the pandemic would be required to be tested again at the central laboratory of the Lady Reading Hospital for confirmation. Similarly, after a complete diagnosis, the patients would be given a choice if they want to get symptomatic treatment at the antiretroviral therapy centre at the Hayatabad Medical Complex. To avoid stigma, the names of the patients would be kept confidential, he added. He urged tribesmen to visit the hospitals for medical investigation.

He said that training would also be provided to the agency surgeons so they could play supervisory roles in their respective agencies.