Living with HIV

New findings, highlighted on World AIDS Day which fell Monday, indicate the disease may be far more prevalent in our society than we think. The latest indication of this reality has come from the town of Jallapur Jattan in Punjab, where an NGO found 342 positive cases last year. The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) has since undertaken an investigation in which it is re-testing those identified by the NGO. Over 100 have so far been confirmed as HIV positive, while the screening process continues. The NACP has itself conceded its estimate of only around 70,000 HIV positives cases in the country may be an underestimate. It is believed that a pattern such as that discovered at Jalalpur Jattan could be in place in many other parts of Punjab, particularly in places from where migration is high.

International agencies have in the past warned on more than one occasion that the prevalence of high-risk behaviours in the country put Pakistan at risk of an AIDS epidemic. A few years ago, high rates of prevalence were found among Injecting Drug Users in Larkana. There is a need now to sit up and take note. The NACP needs to play a much more active part in updating its own figures. The initial findings from Punjab must be followed up on and strategy re-devised in their light so that we can do what is possible to prevent a large-scale outbreak of the infection amongst populations across the country.