Karachi has over 40,000 HIV and AIDS patients

Karachi has over 40,000 HIV and AIDS patients

Karachi has 40,000 people living with HIV and AIDS, while in Larkana 28.5% of transgeners have been found HIV positive.

According to UNAIDS estimates, the number of People Living with HIV & AIDS (PLHA) in Pakistan is 97,400, i.e., approximately one hundred thousand, out of which about half live in Sindh; 80% of them in Karachi. In other words Karachi alone has a population of
40,000 People Living with HIV & AIDS.

One can easily have an idea about the grave and alarming situation of AIDS in Sindh by considering the fact that the prevalence of HIV among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) increased from 0.4% in January, 2004 to 24% in 2005, and in 2007 it reached up to 30%. 

The situation of HIV & AIDS in Hyderabad, the second largest city of Sindh, is not in any way less horrible where the prevalence of HIV among IDUs has gone up from 25.8% in 2005 to 30.3% in 2008.

In 2003, in Larkana, an epidemic of this deadly virus broke out among IDUs that alarmed about this danger not only Pakistan but also the whole world. At that time the prevalence of HIV among IDUs in Larkana was 12% that, according to HASP survey, reached to
the level of 16.5% in 2006 and 28.5% in 2008. In Larkana, too, the prevalence of HIV among transgenders had reached to 27.6%. It is pertinent to mention here that in four big cities of Sindh, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana, the number of IDUs has gone
over 25,000. 

This was stated by Dr. Saleem Azam, president of NGO Pakistan Society while addressing a large gathering of People Living with HIV & AIDS, their families and friends who were commemorating International AIDS Day in Karachi. (PPI)

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=5318

Posted by Fahad Awan on Dec 1 2011. Filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry