AIDS patients in Pakistan launch fight for better treatment
http://www.100md.com
《英国医生杂志》
Patients in Pakistan with HIV or AIDS are trying to raise awareness of the disease and to push for more treatment.
Thirty five year old Amina Bibi, whose husband died from AIDS last year, said that she had taken it as a personal challenge to raise awareness about the disease and remove the stigma associated with it in her country.
According to data provided by the National Aids Control Programme, the total official number of cases is 2141—1897 HIV positive people and 244 with AIDS—since the start of the programme in 1990. "The real figures might increase terribly, if all people were tested for HIV, but the problem is that the people feared to be tested for HIV, because of the public outcry," said the World Health Organization抯 emergency medical officer in Pakistan, Dr Quaid Saeed.
A five year programme costing 2.26 billion rupees (?1.2m; $38.5m; �31.6m) was launched in 2003 to reduce transmission of the disease through unscreened blood, by sex workers, and by the reuse of syringes. However, despite proposals in the programme none of the country抯 four provinces has a functional HIV and AIDS clinic.
As a result patients with AIDS cannot get the antiretroviral drugs they need. Hospitals are ill prepared to admit the patients, saying that they do not have facilities to treat them, said Dr Saeed.
Mrs Bibi, who is from Parachinar, about 270 kilometres west of Peshawar, contracted HIV from her husband, who was a labourer in the United Arab Emirates. He was deported from that country three years ago because of his HIV infection but did not disclose his status to his wife and transmitted the disease to her. Her 6 month old son is also suspected of being infected.
Mrs Bibi is launching an awareness campaign to change the attitude of Pakistani people towards patients with HIV. She has asked the government to open treatment centres at public sector hospitals and to provide antiretrovirals to patients there. Because of the stigma attached to sexually transmitted diseases, patients with HIV or AIDS avoid visiting public sector hospitals, fearing the disclosure of their disease, said sexologist Dr Muzaffar Tareen.
"The situation is alarming. Gone are the days when we used to bracket drivers, sex workers, homosexuals, and so on as a vulnerable group. We have patients who never went out of their areas but were diagnosed as HIV positive while seeking treatment for some other disease," said Dr Tareen.
"In such a depressing situation, I feel bound to lead from the front and open some outlets to give a ray of hope to the people living with the disease," said Mrs Bibi.
Professor Fazle Raziq, a haematologist who heads the pathology section at the Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, said that most HIV positive patients were migrant workers who had been deported from Middle Eastern countries.
"As they were away from their wives, more often than not they come into contact with professional sex workers. When they visited the offices there in connection with the renewal of their visas they were subjected to blood screening tests, and on being diagnosed positive for HIV they were deported straightaway to Pakistan," he said.
According to Professor Raziq, because airports in Pakistan have no screening facilities, infected people go on to pass the infection to their wives and children. Most of the deportees had been in countries such as the United Arab Emirates for 15 to 20 years, he said.(Peshawar Ashfaq Yusufzai)
Thirty five year old Amina Bibi, whose husband died from AIDS last year, said that she had taken it as a personal challenge to raise awareness about the disease and remove the stigma associated with it in her country.
According to data provided by the National Aids Control Programme, the total official number of cases is 2141—1897 HIV positive people and 244 with AIDS—since the start of the programme in 1990. "The real figures might increase terribly, if all people were tested for HIV, but the problem is that the people feared to be tested for HIV, because of the public outcry," said the World Health Organization抯 emergency medical officer in Pakistan, Dr Quaid Saeed.
A five year programme costing 2.26 billion rupees (?1.2m; $38.5m; �31.6m) was launched in 2003 to reduce transmission of the disease through unscreened blood, by sex workers, and by the reuse of syringes. However, despite proposals in the programme none of the country抯 four provinces has a functional HIV and AIDS clinic.
As a result patients with AIDS cannot get the antiretroviral drugs they need. Hospitals are ill prepared to admit the patients, saying that they do not have facilities to treat them, said Dr Saeed.
Mrs Bibi, who is from Parachinar, about 270 kilometres west of Peshawar, contracted HIV from her husband, who was a labourer in the United Arab Emirates. He was deported from that country three years ago because of his HIV infection but did not disclose his status to his wife and transmitted the disease to her. Her 6 month old son is also suspected of being infected.
Mrs Bibi is launching an awareness campaign to change the attitude of Pakistani people towards patients with HIV. She has asked the government to open treatment centres at public sector hospitals and to provide antiretrovirals to patients there. Because of the stigma attached to sexually transmitted diseases, patients with HIV or AIDS avoid visiting public sector hospitals, fearing the disclosure of their disease, said sexologist Dr Muzaffar Tareen.
"The situation is alarming. Gone are the days when we used to bracket drivers, sex workers, homosexuals, and so on as a vulnerable group. We have patients who never went out of their areas but were diagnosed as HIV positive while seeking treatment for some other disease," said Dr Tareen.
"In such a depressing situation, I feel bound to lead from the front and open some outlets to give a ray of hope to the people living with the disease," said Mrs Bibi.
Professor Fazle Raziq, a haematologist who heads the pathology section at the Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, said that most HIV positive patients were migrant workers who had been deported from Middle Eastern countries.
"As they were away from their wives, more often than not they come into contact with professional sex workers. When they visited the offices there in connection with the renewal of their visas they were subjected to blood screening tests, and on being diagnosed positive for HIV they were deported straightaway to Pakistan," he said.
According to Professor Raziq, because airports in Pakistan have no screening facilities, infected people go on to pass the infection to their wives and children. Most of the deportees had been in countries such as the United Arab Emirates for 15 to 20 years, he said.(Peshawar Ashfaq Yusufzai)