The mounting menace of HIV

In its recent report on the incidence of HIV/AIDS, the UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV) makes the deeply disturbing disclosure that Pakistan is among 11 countries with the highest prevalence of the affliction - 13 percent. While the rest of the world is on track to put an end to HIV/AIDS, it has soared in Pakistan during the last decade. Average prevalence per 1000 persons rose from 0.08 in 2010 to 0.11 in the last year, notes the report. In simple words, the number of people living with HIV in this country grew in that period from 67,000 to a whopping 160,000. Presumably, these numbers are based on registered cases; the actual figure may be even higher. The UNAIDS report terms the situation a blow to global efforts to control the disease. This is a serious indictment of all provincial governments' HIV/AIDS control programmes.
There is nothing surprising, nonetheless, about these findings. A few months ago, there was a massive outbreak of HIV in Shikarpur and Larkana's Ratodero area. Hundreds of people, many of them children, were found to be affected. That both Punjab and Sindh have, under-reported statistics in this regard is a fact. Moreover, information from the other provinces is patchy. Then there is also the fact that testing facilities are few and far between. It has been just a month since the Punjab health minister announced setting up of HIV screening centres in all 36 districts of the province. A better solution would be to provide that facility at all government-run hospitals.
The UN report seems to be the outcome of the efforts of Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, to determine the real incidence of HIV and suggest ways to curb it. On his request to the WHO, a team of health experts from different fields has been in Pakistan to investigate the prevalence and causes of the disease, and provide technical assistance regarding testing, treatment and family counselling as well as ensuring adequate supplies of antiretroviral medicines for both adults and children. Their findings and recommendations surely would be helpful. Much depends though on what the authorities concerned make of the advice, and whether or not the assistance funds are used for the purposes for which they are meant. That is an important concern as the present report notes that the situation has aggravated despite grant of "massive funding" by international health partners. In view of this embarrassing comment, it is imperative that some sort of an accountability mechanism is put in place to ensure proper compliance.