PESHAWAR, May 13: Three persons have tested positive for HIV/Aids and another 42 and 50 for hepatitis B and C respectively following the screening of 9,800 prisoners in 22 jails of the province.
The screening tests of prisoners were conducted by Provincial HIV/Aids Control Programme in collaboration with a local NGO.
About 2,200 prisoners underwent HIV/Aids tests and the results showed that a total of three prisoners, including two foreigners and one local, were suffering from the killer ailment. Two patients of HIV/Aids were present in Haripur jail and one was kept in Peshawar Central Prison. Of the total 2,020 prisoners tested for hepatitis B, 42 were found positive while 50 were having C type of the disease of the total tested 1,959 prisoners.
The screening tests were conducted between May 2006 to April 2008, which also showed the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among 490 prisoners, who were treated accordingly. The two-year project of screening the prisoners for HIV/Aids, hepatitis B and C and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) was launched in 2006 in two jails -- Peshawar Central Prison and Haripur jail.
For the purpose of screening, centres were set up in the two jails where the inmates were provided information regarding the causes and prevention of HIV/Aids, hepatitis B and C and STIs. During the project, 2,786 prisoners in the two jails were given necessary tips regarding the preventive measures by indulging them in discussion and distribution pamphlets among them. About 190 health and condom education session were held with prisoners in Peshawar and 261 in Haripur.
Twenty-two prisoners were tested positive for STIs among a total of 778 who underwent screening tests.
An official of the Provincial HIV/Aids Control Programme told Dawn that the government had decided to extend the programme till 2012. According to the new PC-1, he said, certain measures would be taken to tackle the intravenous use of drugs (IDUs) among the prisoners and out of prisons addicted persons. Citing a nationwide study, conducted last year, he said that IDUs had been bracketed among the high-risk vulnerable group, who needed to be given priority as far as measures regarding prevention of the disease were concerned.
The IDUs, he said, had set alarm bells ringing among the donor agencies and the government feared that the disease could infect the population if they weren’t extended much-needed timely support.
To cope with the problem of HIV/Aids, he said that plans were afoot to open an information centre for the immigrant workers at Peshawar airport. He said that some of the Pakistani immigrant workers, particularly in Gulf States, brought HIV/Aids with them to the country. For this purpose, they would be given information regarding the disease before embarking on their journeys.
