Media dialogue with people living with HIV

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Media dialogue with people living with HIV

In view of the health hazards associated with needle sharing, the Sindh Aids Control Programme (SACP) is considering the introduction of oral substitution therapy for intravenous drug users (IDUs).

Speaking at ‘Media Dialogue with People Living with HIV’, arranged by the SACP in connection with World Aids Day activities, programme manager Dr Arshad Mehmood said that most of the IDUs shared needles and were at a high risk of being infected with HIV/Aids.

He informed the audience that as part of SACP’s HIV-prevention efforts, it had already raised the issue with donor agencies working for narcotics control, pharmaceutical firms and drug regulatory bodies. The alternative oral medicines available in the market had to be taken several times a day, which was not practical in case of drug users. “We are asking the drug manufacturers to increase the potency of these medicines so that they can be given to the IDUs in fewer doses,” he said. He hoped that things would sort out by 2013 when the SACP planned to launch its pilot project of oral substitution in selected areas.

Dr Mehmood said that in the recent months HIV had been detected in a large number of street children and that was why SACP had decided to include adolescent population, who were most vulnerable, in their next provincial HIV/Aids surveillance project. The SACP would also provide them with free diagnostic and treatment services.

Till 2011, such surveillance reports and surveys were conducted by the National Aids Control Programme, in collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency. However, he said, now the Sindh government had allocated funds for the surveillance survey. The surveys covered mapping, biological and behavioural information related to the HIV infection among four key groups: IDUs, male sex workers, transvestite sex workers and female sex workers.

Two married couples and two men shared their plight of contracting HIV during the interactive session. One of the two husbands said that he tested positive for HIV only after his wife fell critically ill from Aids.

“In the 1990s I used to work at a big hotel in a Middle Eastern country and understand that I got infected during my time there.” The couple already had four children before he began showing symptoms of Aids and transmitting the virus to his wife. His children fortunately are not HIV positive.

The other HIV-positive men said that they had shared needles to use drugs. One of them said that he used to be a labourer and got infected when he was spending time in a foreign jail.

The SACP directer, Dr Qamar Abbas, said that the magnitude of HIV/Aids problems was bigger in Sindh than in other provinces, adding that presently the epidemic was concentrated among IDUs and male sex workers.

Referring to the results of the national HIV/Aids surveillance report issued in January 2012, Dr Q.Abbas said that HIV prevalence among IDUs in Karachi had increased to 42 per cent, followed by 10 per cent in Larkana, 17 per cent in Sukkur and 16 per cent in Dadu.

He said that till Sept 30, there were 1,953 patients registered with the SACP. Out of them, 1,630 were men, 230 were women, 69 were children and 24 were transvestites.

Dr Abbas said that out of the total number of registered patients, 718 were getting treatment in five treatment centres at Karachi and Larkana. He said that there were three centres in Karachi and Larkana which worked for preventing the transmission of the virus from parent to child, and 19 HIV positive mothers had babies there and out of them 17 had been born HIV negative while the remaining two had died.

Dr. M. Munawar Khan of the SACP said that the number of HIV patients registered with the SACP was increasing and it was because of the Pakistan’s vibrant media and efforts of the civil society to remove the stigma associated with HIV and dismantling of psychological barriers.

Dr Ashraf Memon said that every year on Dec 1, World Aids Day came as an opportunity to look back and take remedial measures to contain its spread. This year’s theme is ‘Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections’. Many countries have decided to eliminate reporting a new HIV/Aids case by 2015. In Sindh, said Dr Memon, we need to focus on street children.

An officer of the Global Funding Islamabad, Dr Suleman Otho, also spoke on the occasion. His agency had agreed to extend its support to various anti-HIV initiatives in Sindh and rest of the county for another three years.

Seminar on HIV/AIDS in Children at DUHS 

An estimated 3.4 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2011. More than 1500 children become infected with HIV every day. The vast majority (more than 90%) acquire the infection from their mother. The most effective way to reduce the number of children who become infected with HIV is to prevent HIV infection in parents-to-be and to prevent unplanned pregnancies in HIV-infected women, these views were expressed  by Medical Experts at a Seminar on “HIV/AIDS in Children”.

The Seminar was organized by Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) in collaboration with the  Department of Paediatrics, Civil Hospital Karachi and Sindh AIDS Control Program to commemorate World AIDS Day 2012  at Dow Medical College.

Dr. Ashraf Memon of Sindh AIDS Control speaking on the occasion said that the latest estimate of HIV infection is 10600 HIV positive adult and children. The annual incidence of HIV/AIDS patients in Pakistan is  more than 0.1%. In Pakistan. Children are infected with HIV, the ailment caused mainly through parent-to-child-transmission (PTCT).

Dr. Ayesha Mehnaz, Chairperson Paediatric Dept Civil Hospital in her welcome address mentioned that Paediatric HIV treatment has been functioning since December 2012. Till-date 22 children of both sexes have been registered with HIV/AIDS. It is a vertical transmission disease.

She stressed that screening of blood for HIV before and during pregnancy is necessary for knowing blood disorders. Effective counseling and timely treatment will prevent the transmission of the disease.

Dr. Noor-Un- Nisa Masqati of Paediatric Unit of Civil Hospital Karachi speaking on the Management & Treatment of HIV/AIDS said that more than 1500 children become infected with HIV every day. Children acquire HIV during pregnancy, labour, delivery or after birth through breast-feeding.The management of HIV/AIDS in paediatric includes Antiretroviral therapy, Treatment of acute bacterial infections, Prophylaxis and treatment of opportunistic infections, Maintenance of good nutrition, Immunization, Management of  AIDS – defining illnesses, Psychological support for the family and Palliative care for the terminally ill child.

Among pregnant women already infected with HIV, antiretroviral prevention treatment including treatment for their own illness, if indicated, safe delivery practices and safe infant- feeding options to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV should be provided.

Earlier, Dr. Nida Noor of Paediatric Unit I and Dr. Shagufta Baloch of Pediatric Unit II Civil Hospital shared their case presentation.

2017-04-26T12:35:14+00:00