PESHAWAR, Jan 9: City police have extended support to the NWFP health department to implement a strategy aiming to raise awareness about the prevention of HIV/Aids and Hepatitis.
“The police department will cooperate with the government to put brakes on the deadly ailment of Aids,” said city police chief Malik Saad Khan.
Speaking at a workshop on “Health Education and Coordination on HIV/Aids and Hepatitis” on Tuesday, he said that the police would definitely cooperate in areas such as prevention of prostitution, intravenous drugs users (IDUs) and others matters.
Both Aids and Hepatitis are the most fearsome diseases, which can be checked through implementation of relevant laws, he said, asking the police officers to keep special vigilant on activities that can lead to surge in the diseases.
Police officers drawn from the city police station attended the event.
Dr Saleem of the UNAIDS said that modes of transmission of HIV/Aids and Hepatitis more or less were the same and the diseases could be checked through avoidance of shaving at barbers’ shop, transfusion of unscreened blood, unsafe sex, reuse of syringes, tattooing body and unhygienic piercing of ears and nose by women.
He said that Pakistan had so far recorded 3,047 cases of HIV/Aids, but the number of patients could be close to 150,000 or more if all the population was subjected to blood screening.
“Situation regarding Aids is not so worrying in the country as that of Hepatitis, but there should be no delay to spread a message across about the endemic," he said.
Dr Zaffar of the NWFP Aids Control Programme said that 10 years ago, there was one Aids case in Pakistan and the situation was now different.
He said that India had four million patients, whereas 25 per cent of army and 30 per cent personnel of the education department were infected with Aids.
To be on the safe side, there is a dire need to work jointly to block the spread of the disease, he added.
“It is not a health issue alone, but also an economic one, because it infected the people in most productive age group of 15-45 years,” he added.
Secondly, the symptomatic treatment offered at the antiretroviral therapy (ARV) centres set up two years back was about Rs300,000, which was unaffordable for most of the patients.
He said the government was implementing the service delivery packages aiming to stem the tide of the ailment that needed sensitization of the police force.
“The police and army personnel also visit different countries as part of UN peacekeepers, for which they needed to be aware of the causative and preventive measures about the disease,” he said.
Dr Rajwal Khan of the WHO said that the incubation period of HIV ranged between one to 15 years and five to 30 per cent of the newborn babies got the ailment from mothers.
He said that 80 per cent of patients suffered because of the sexually transmitted infections.
He urged the police department to be in touch with the world health agency to be able to get latest information about the disease.