Islamabad: There is an alarming surge in HIV/AIDS cases among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Pakistan, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) says.
HIV/AIDS prevalence among IDUs in the country averages 36.7 percent, Dawn said quoting the report of the CIDA-funded HIV/AIDS Surveillance Project (HASP).
According to the findings of the project’s survey, in some cities of the Punjab province, the number of HIV/AIDS infected IDUs was as high as 52.5 percent followed by 42.5 percent in Sindh province.
The results of the survey showed a steady increase in HIV/AIDS among IDUs in the aftermath of the cancellation of the Rs.1 billion World Bank-financed risk reduction project in Punjab’s eight cities by the then provincial health secretary in April 2010.
Under the project, the IDUs used to be provided with new syringes in exchange of the old ones to minimise risk of transmitting the disease to others.
The termination of the contract by the Punjab government came after it demanded the service providing organisation disclose the identity of its beneficiaries in violation of the agreement’s confidentiality clause. This resulted in stoppage of services to over 14,000 individuals and families in Punjab and an additional 6,000 individuals in Sindh. The provincial government had apparently planned to put in place an alternative service delivery system but this could not happen, forcing the IDUs to exchange used needles.
There are an estimated 125,000 IDUs in the country. Half of them are estimated to be married.
According to official statistics by Pakistan National AIDS Control Programme, there are over 80,000 people suffering from HIV/AIDS across Pakistan. (IANS)
