Islamabad: Medical bodies, public health experts and concerned citizens have urged federal and provincial governments to stop withholding data on HIV and other blood-borne diseases, warning that Pakistan\u2019s HIV challenge is becoming more serious as infections are increasingly being detected among children and people outside traditionally high-risk groups.<\/p>\n
The call was made at a National Dialogue on HIV and AIDS organised by Lok Sehat, where doctors, health specialists, professional medical associations, civil society representatives and organisations working with HIV-affected communities reviewed the worsening situation and the gaps in the country\u2019s health system.<\/p>\n
According to a government Task Force report discussed at the forum, an estimated 369,000 people are living with HIV in Pakistan. However, only about 84,400 cases are formally registered, while around 60,789 people are receiving antiretroviral treatment. Experts said the available figures may reflect only part of the actual burden because Pakistan still lacks reliable and complete disease data.<\/p>\n
Lok Sehat Convener Dr Zafar Mirza said the state must abandon the approach of trying to manage diseases by controlling or hiding information. He called for transparent and accessible data on HIV and other blood-borne infections and said the government should assume greater financial responsibility for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria rather than relying heavily on donor funding.<\/p>\n
He said the purpose of the dialogue was to develop a technically sound and nationally workable strategy for HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, surveillance, infection prevention and control, regulation and accountability, with the participation of affected communities.<\/p>\n
The Task Force report said the recent emergence of HIV among children in low-risk rural communities indicated serious weaknesses in infection control, blood safety, healthcare regulation and medical management.<\/p>\n
Particular concern was expressed over the situation in Taunsa Tehsil of Dera Ghazi Khan, where 127 children were confirmed to have HIV during a five-month period from December 2024 to April 2025. Around 79 percent of these children were under five years of age, with a median age of only three years. Investigations largely ruled out mother-to-child transmission as nearly all mothers of the infected children tested negative for HIV.<\/p>\n
The report identified unsafe blood transfusions and contaminated injection practices as major factors behind the Taunsa outbreak. It also pointed to problems in blood donor screening, unregulated healthcare providers, reuse of disposable syringes, excessive injection use, poor sterilisation and weak infection prevention systems.<\/p>\n
Dr Mirza said the repeated use of syringes and needles was suspected to be a major route of HIV transmission among patients receiving healthcare. He stressed the need to train healthcare workers and raise public awareness so that patients and families insist on the use of new syringes and needles during injections and other medical procedures.<\/p>\n
He also urged doctors and healthcare staff to avoid unnecessary injections and to prescribe oral medicines where medically suitable, saying avoidable and excessive injections expose patients to preventable risks.<\/p>\n
Former National AIDS Control Programme and Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority chief Dr Quaid Saeed said Pakistan had reported 13 HIV outbreaks during the last 18 years, but only two, including Jalalpur Jattan and Ratodero, had been extensively investigated. He demanded complete epidemiological investigations into every reported HIV outbreak.<\/p>\n
The government Task Force report also referred to the Ratodero outbreak in Sindh in 2019, which affected more than 1,000 people, most of them children under 12. Investigations linked that outbreak to contaminated syringes, unsafe injections, unregulated blood transfusions, quackery and serious shortcomings in infection prevention and control.<\/p>\n
Experts also highlighted stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. Dr Mirza said discriminatory attitudes remained a serious problem, including in parts of the medical profession, and there had been cases where doctors refused to treat patients after learning they had HIV.<\/p>\n
He said the public must be informed that HIV does not spread through ordinary contact such as shaking hands or sitting near an infected person. He called for sustained awareness campaigns through television, newspapers and social media to correct misconceptions and reduce discrimination.<\/p>\n
In Islamabad, infectious diseases expert Dr Naseem Akhtar said many HIV cases seen at her centre involved people who inject drugs, deportees, transgender persons, men who have sex with men and female sex workers. She said some cases had also been reported among children.<\/p>\n
Dr Asma Naseem said the situation in Karachi was also disturbing, especially because of a rise in HIV cases among children. She said children living with HIV were being brought to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation with kidney failure, describing the trend as highly concerning.<\/p>\n
Speakers said weak regulation of healthcare facilities was central to the problem. Dr Mirza called for stronger healthcare commissions, blood transfusion authorities and other regulators, supported by adequate funding, trained human resources and modern technology, so they could perform their patient-safety role effectively.<\/p>\n
He said that where failure of monitoring and regulation contributes to the spread of HIV or other blood-borne diseases, the relevant regulatory institutions should be held accountable. He added that civil society and affected communities should also monitor the performance of public institutions and demand answers.<\/p>\n
The government Task Force has recommended nationwide surveillance of syringes, stronger regulation of medical devices and a phased transition to auto-disable syringes. It has also proposed tougher action against unsafe medical practices.<\/p>\n
Another key recommendation is the establishment of a national real-time HIV surveillance dashboard. The proposed system would gather information from treatment centres, blood transfusion centres, provincial disease surveillance units and other health facilities so that new cases can be reported quickly at the national level.<\/p>\n
The Task Force has also called for improved testing and care for children, including early infant diagnosis, trained counsellors and paediatric HIV specialists in outbreak-affected areas. It has recommended social protection for children living with HIV, including support for medicines, nutrition, education, transport and psychological care.<\/p>\n
The proposed reforms include stronger laws, mandatory reporting of HIV cases and outbreaks, better sharing of health data among provinces and agencies, and accountability for public and private healthcare providers where negligence contributes to disease transmission.<\/p>\n
The report also proposes a high-level National HIV Technical Working Group comprising experts including Maj Gen (R) Dr Azhar Mehmood Kayani, Dr Zafar Mirza, Dr Abdul Wali Khan, Dr Amjad Mahmood, Dr Adnan Khan, Dr Huma Qureshi, Dr Hasan Abbas Zaheer, Brig Dr Nuzhat Mushahid, Dr Saira Afzal, Dr Fatima Mir, Dr Saba Jamal, Dr Rana Jawad Asghar and Dr Khalid Rehman.<\/p>\n
Dr Mirza also voiced concern over Pakistan\u2019s dependence on international financing. He said around 90 percent of spending on HIV, tuberculosis and malaria during the previous five years had come through the Global Fund. He said Pakistan should gradually take full financial responsibility for these programmes instead of treating donor support as a permanent arrangement.<\/p>\n
The dialogue was attended by representatives of the Pakistan Medical Association, Pakistan Paediatric Association, Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan, Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Pakistan, Association of People Living with HIV in Pakistan, Indus Hospital and Health Network, Nai Zindagi Trust, Wajood Society, Bridge Foundation, Dareecha Male Health Society and UNAIDS.<\/p>\n
Participants said Pakistan now required more than statements and meetings. They called for safe injections, properly screened blood, stronger hospital safety rules, reliable disease data, regular outbreak investigations, better regulation of clinics and sustained government funding.<\/p>\n
The Task Force recommendations underline that Pakistan\u2019s HIV crisis is not only about treating infected patients. It is also about ensuring that people visiting hospitals and clinics for care are not exposed to preventable risks because of unsafe medical practices, weak monitoring or poor regulation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Medical experts and civil society groups have urged Pakistan to release reliable HIV data, strengthen healthcare regulation and address rising child infections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}