Aids-Overview In Pakistan By Sagittarius The HIV / AIDS epidemic began in Pakistan, as elsewhere, with one person dying of an infection which, until the early 1980s, did not even have a name.

It was commonly believed at that time that AIDS was an infection of foreigners and that Pakistanis could not acquit it due to their strong social, religions and cultural traditions. This widespread public belief was challenged, however, when in 1988 a Pakistani husband, wife and their child were all found to have become infected with HIV. In the same year, two recipients of multiple transfusions of blood from paid donors were also diagnosed as being HIV positive.

During 1990 and 1995, an increasing number of Pakistanis living or traveling abroad became infected with HIV and then returned to Pakistan. In large part due to widespread ignorance about HIV and AIDS, these travelers had become infected through high-risk behaviors. Some of these men subsequently infected their wives who, in some cases, passed on the infection to their children. In 1993, the first recognized transmission of HIV infection through breastfeeding in Pakistan was reported in the city of Rawalpindi.

In the mid-to-late-1990s, cases of HIV and AIDS increasingly began to appear among groups such as sex workers, drug abusers and jail imamates. The proliferation of the infection among these groups is assumed to have facilitated, at least to some extent, a further spread of HIV into the general population. In addition, Pakistanis continued seeking employment opportunities overseas and contracted HIV with increased frequency during these years, sometimes transmitting the infection to their wives and sexual partners upon their eventual return to Pakistan.

During this stage of Pakistan’s epidemic it was recognized that transport workers and migrant labourers were beginning to spread the infection along the principal trade routes within the country.

As of January 2000, a total of 1,436 cases of HIVinfection and 187 cases of AIDS have been reported by the National AIDS Programme in Pakistan, though it is estimated that the actual number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Pakistan at the end of 1999 was approximately 74,000. The relatively low number of reported infections, may be the result of a number of factors including an actual low level of HIV infection due to the epidemic being still in its earliest stages: widespread under-reporting of cases due to inadequacies in the surveillance system, and / or, limited individual-level care-seeking for possible HIV infections, due to ignorance and/or stigma related to reproductive health issues.

According to the NACP, heterosexual transmission currently accounts for the majority of reported HIV cases. Of those HIV cases which can be attributed to a particular mode of transmission, the next most frequent mode is related to infection through contaminated blood or blood products. The remainder of the reported HIV cases which can be linked with a particular mode of transmission have been related to infection through injecting drug use, homosexual sex, bisexual and mother to child transmission.

The transmission modes for 35% of the reported HIV cases are unknown, though it is assumed that most of these cases are associated with sexual transmission.

Over 87% of the reported HIV cases in Pakistan have been detected in men. Most of those (52%) who are now infected fall within the age range of 20-40 years, though just over 16% are in their forties. The ages of 27% of the reported cases are unknown.

HIV/AIDS cases have been reported from all provinces of the country and primarily from the major urban areas within these provinces. However, the easy and continuous migration between rural and urban areas makes rural infection levels likely to rise as time goes on.

As has proven true in other countries, an HIV/AIDS situation of "high-risk/low-prevalence" can very quickly change to one of "high-risk/high prevalence".

The potential threat to human lives, the danger of an explosion of public health-care liabilities in an already financial overburdened government, and the loss of productive capacities for the economy are significant hazards for Pakistan in the absence of a concerted HIV/AIDS prevention effort.

Pakistan has an unusually young overall population, which in some ways, can make

it even more vulnerable to an epidemic. Sixty-three percent of the country’s population is below the age of 25 years. It is especially important to consider that nearly half the population is of reproductive age and that sexual transmission is believed to be the principal cause of HIV infection in Pakistan today.

Poverty is inextricably linked to an array of difficulties which reduce the life chances of individuals and the overall health and well-being of households and communities. For example, those who are poor often have the least access to education and other social services, and therefore they have the least access to the information and tools which might help them protect themselves from HIV infection and other health and social threats. In addition, poverty sometimes influences people to make choices that make them more vulnerable to infection; for example, it is poverty that steers some women and men into the sex industry, and the frustrations related to poverty can drive people to drug abuse.

In circumstances where there are desperate economic pressures on households to provide even the most basic necessities of life, issues such as the necessity of condom use, or of the danger represented by poor infection control procedures at health clinics are not, perhaps, of immediate concern. The prevention of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) – the consequences of which may be little understood – may not have a high priority in the face of a great many other social and economic risks.

While poverty can increase the vulnerability of individuals or families to HIV infection, governmental poverty can affect the vulnerability of an entire nation. In recent times, the government of Pakistan has suffered from a series of economic crises. The subsequent diminishing of financial resources available for public health care and education can certainly have an effect on the prevalence of STIs, and on the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, within the country. This severe shortage of financial resources seriously affects those who are dependent upon the public system, and also affect the entire population as a result of the diminished capacity to raise public awareness about HIV and other STIs.

Do’s and Don’ts Do’s Provide them family and social support. Allow them to get back to men work as soon as he/she is physically fit. Encourage them to exercise and meditate as these help prolong the life span. Provide them with a high protein, high vitamin diet and clean potable water (boiled). Convince them to stop all addictions such as tobacco, alcohol or other psychotropic/ recreational drugs. Take immediate steps to treat even minor ailments. Dispose off blood stained bandages properly either by flushing or by disinfecting them first with detergent. Advice them to use safe sex (condoms) with their sex partner, even if partner is already HIV positive. Don’ts: Don’t accuse them for getting infected. Don’t try to probe into when, where the person was infected. Don’t make them feel guilty. Don’t isolate them. It is important for them to spend quality family time together. Don’t use gloves in feeding the infected person or to wipe off his saliva, sweat, nasal secretions and tears. Don’t share razors, tooth brush and other sharp objects with infected person or for that matter withy any body else. It is not necessary to wash their clothes separately.

Women: A Vulnerable Target Pakistani women of all economic and social classes face varying degrees of discriminatory behavior, HIV is one more area in which the odds are heavily loaded against them. Women in Pakistan, as in other countries, are increasingly vulnerable to HIV and other STIs, in large part due to their limited ability to protect themselves from infection. Many HIV positive women in Pakistan have acquired the infection not as a result of their own high-risk behaviors, but due to the high risk behaviors of their husbands. Various gender-related studies have shown that Pakistani women have a lower socio-economic status, more limited mobility and less autonomy and decision-making power within the household than men. The majority of Pakistani women have less exposure to formal schooling, and rural women are especially underprivileged in this regard. Women’s limited access to education is reflected in an extremely low literacy rate (approximately 24%, as compared to 50% for males) and a low level of female employment in the formal Labour force, the combined effects of which reinforce their economic dependency on men. Restrictions on the mobility of women based upon social and religions traditions are practiced throughout Pakistan and often make it difficult for them to obtain health and other social services, including reproductive health care and family planning assistance. Some women are unable to seek care due to restrictions regarding traveling away from home or moving freely in public. In addition women who believe that they may be suffering from an STI are often too uncomfortable about possible exposure or gossip to seek appropriate treatment, or they may simply be unaware that they have an infection because the symptoms in women are often doormat. As a result of cultural reservations about the discussion of sexual matters, women may feel too shy to report illness or even to inquire about health norms.

Aids The Deadly Virus! We can all combat HIV by doing the most simple things. But to do that, it’s crucial to understand the basics about HIV. So let’s set the record straight. You can’t get HIV by kissing, shaking hands, touching, coughing or sneezing. You can’t get it from insect or animal bites, and you can’t get it by sharing food, or toilet seats, or from being in a swimming pool with an HIV infected person. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re wrong. And that’s a fact. There are four main ways of contracting HIV. Sex - Whatever your sexuality, it doesn’t matter. If you have vaginal or anal sex with some one who has HIV, and you don’t’ use a condom, you can become infected with HIV. Oral sex without a condom also carries a risk of HIV and other infections. Sharing Needles – if you share needles or other drug injecting equipment that contains traces of HIV infected blood, you can become infected with HIV. Mother To Baby – If a pregnant woman has HIV, she can pass it on to her child in three ways: during pregnancy, during birth, or through breast feeding. But there are proven steps mothers can take to reduce the possibility of their unborn child contacting HIV. Infected Blood – You can become infected with HIV by receiving infected blood, blood products or donated organs as part of medical treatment. Chances of this happening can be made remote by screening blood, blood products and donated organs for HIV and destroying the infected material.