SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN | by Akram Rahi- HIV human immunodeficiency virus is one such virus which attacks the cells that help the body fight infection, leaving the person vulnerable to other infections and diseases. It is spread by contact with certain body fluids of a person with HIV. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection that occurs when the body’s immune system is severely damaged by the virus. In the United States, most people with HIV do not develop AIDS because taking prescribed HIV drugs stops the disease from progressing.
Without HIV medication, people with AIDS typically live about three years. Once someone has the disease, life expectancy without treatment drops to about a year. HIV medication can still help people at this stage of HIV infection, and it can even save lives. But people who start HIV medication soon after becoming infected with HIV tend to fight the disease more easily.
That is why timely HIV testing is so important. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus whose primary target is CD 4 + immune cells, with the HIV 1 strain being the most dominant. In its final stage, HIV causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV/AIDS is spread through the exchange of body fluids including semen, blood and breast milk. The first reported cases occurred in the 1980s and since then it has affected more than 75 million people worldwide, the 2013 Global Burden of Disease (GBS) report concluded that H. IV is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide.
The virus primarily affects the young and economically productive population, so its economic and social consequences are enormous. Now Pakistan has also joined the countries where the number of AIDS patients is increasing rapidly. Although the number of patients registered with the National AIDS Control Program Pakistan is 30,000, but according to an assessment of the same program, the number of people affected by AIDS in the country is more than 500,000.
It is not possible to know the number of AIDS patients in Pakistan because AIDS screening is not currently organized in any hospital in Pakistan. A few years ago, WHO declared a Grade Two medical emergency in Larkana. The number of AIDS patients recorded in this district was so high that it became a news for the entire world. AIDS is affecting more backward districts of Sindh and Punjab.
This is because of the old practice of barbers and indigenous healers in these areas which is still practiced. In the spread of this disease, the practice of circumcision with traditional tools in these areas has affected entire villages across the country. And the process continues like this. The government has not taken any practical action in this regard. Drug use has increased greatly in Pakistan. Many drug users use used syringes, which is why AIDS is spreading rapidly.
The main reason for the spread of AIDS is unprotected sex. Stealth prostitution is going on in all areas of Pakistan. In which millions of people participate daily. Apart from this, transgenders are also working as sex workers across the country. This disease is spreading very fast from these sex workers. Persons who reside abroad. They bring this virus with them. And then pass the virus on to their families and to these local sex workers.
Transgenders who come to Pakistan from Afghanistan, who number in thousands, are more prone to AIDS. They are spreading this disease from street to street. The AIDS epidemic is also spreading rapidly among the truck drivers of South Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is due to negligence. The rapid spread of AIDS in Pakistan will make it virtually impossible to control it in the near future. Because there is no practical provision of public guidance and training regarding this disease.
The NGOs supported by the World Bank and other institutions spend money only on exhibition works and are filling their own pockets. They have no interest in spreading the disease and controlling it. In the last decade, these NGOs have conducted dozens of conferences and workshops in five-star hotels. Which is practically useless because the participants in these conferences and workshops are not even remotely related to the problem or its prevention.
With this money, if screening machines were bought and given to hospitals, the diagnosis of this disease and reduction in its spread could have been managed. Pakistan is among the few countries in the world where blood transfusion is extremely unsafe. Because here, the same blood is taken from the donor as it is transfused to the patient and secondly, there is no provision in any blood bank or hospital to screen this blood for HIV and other viruses.
The private clinics in the street do not follow any protocol even they reuse many devices in the process to save a few rupees. By which these diseases are transmitted to others. In this country, 80% of dental treatment is given because this treatment is less expensive, so it does not take any kind of safety measures into consideration. Even in government hospitals, the same device is used for thousands of patients.
In cities and villages, the poor still shave with a barber’s razor, which spreads communicable diseases. Then due to the lack of education and awareness in Pakistan, who becomes a victim of this disease. They do not take treatment and precautions and cause the disease to spread. If screening for AIDS is truly done in Pakistan, the results will be incredible and bearable. The government’s priorities do not include people’s lives, health and education.
The aid or charity we receive from the world in this regard. If it is also used properly, further spread of this disease can be avoided to some extent. But in this country, from the donation of the mosque to the donation made for the wounded in Palestine, people are devouring it. Many of Pakistan’s problems may be cured with time, but neglecting to prevent this disease will cut the country off from the rest of the world. Millions of people going to the Gulf and other countries to work will be banned and it will be almost impossible for Pakistanis to leave the country.
Since HIV is a rapidly mutating virus, the development of a single vaccine to prevent all strains of HIV is a major challenge for human society in recent times. Antiretroviral treatment (ART) is currently the only available There is a way. But Pakistan is one of the unfortunate countries where these are available in very small quantities. And they are not available in those areas where it is badly needed. The government can request international organizations for its availability and it is not a difficult task to ensure its presence in all hospitals.
We have taken billions of rupees from all over the world for human trials of Corona vaccines which mostly went into the pockets of a few individuals and for these trial base vaccines we used the entire government missionary if even a thousandth of it. If we invest in the diagnosis and prevention of this deadly disease, future generations of Pakistan can be protected from it. We Pakistanis agree to do whatever we get paid for, no matter how much we lose.
But they do not do any work that is good for humanity and does not have financial benefit. The moral decline our society and our administrators are suffering from. They are a major cause of our decline and bankruptcy. If the government wants to, it can make it mandatory today that no patient will receive a blood transfusion unless he has been screened for HIV. Drug addicts can be rehabilitated by setting up a center away from society.
Transgender women can be prevented from engaging in the vile street prostitution business. Anyone coming from abroad can be screened at the airport. Grants across the country can be stopped from working. Every tehsil has an army of assistant commissioners who drive around in multi-crore cars under the protection of gunmen. If they are taken to task, then in a single day, there will be no Atta left in the whole of Pakistan. There will hardly be a single leader in this country who can take any work from these millions of salary earners. Prevention of AIDS lies in prudence and caution. People should be careful and only the government will be able to protect us from this deadly disease like the rest of the world.
Source: Shafaqna Pakistan
Note: Shafaqna do not endorse the views expressed in the article