To mark the World AIDS Day 2017, Sindh AIDS Control Program (SACP) organized an Awareness Walk at Sea view, Karachi.
The Walk was led by Dr. Younis Chachar, Program Manager, SACP. Representatives of civil society & NGO, students, business community and HIV/AIDS patients also participated in the walk.
During the Walk Dr. Younis Chachar informed that presently about 130,000 HIV/AIDS infected people are living in Pakistan out of them 56,000 live in Sindh province. SACP has registered 12,979 cases across the province since 1995 out of them 12,740 were found HIV positive and 239 were AIDS patients. He further informed that treatment of over 7,000 registered HIV/AIDS patients was under way in the province. He said currently there are two HIV/AIDS Centers in Sindh province: one in Civil Hospital Karachi and other in Civil Hospital Larkana. More HIV Treatment Centers are also being established in Jinnah Postulate Medical Centre, Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH). He explained that major high risk groups of HIV/AIDS prevalence are include long distance truck drivers, female sex workers, transgender sex workers, men having sex with men (MSMs), injecting drug users (IDUs), jail inmates, children born to infected parent, street children and victims of unsafe medical procedures.
He further that awareness campaigns was being conducted throughout the Sindh province thorough religious leaders, civil society, media and other stockholders to control the prevalence HIV/AIDs. He also called for coordinated efforts from all stakeholders of society to control HIV/AIDS in Pakistan.
