Media urged to play role in strengthening HIV response
HYDERABAD – The Additional Director General of Communicable Disease Control (CDC), Directorate General of Health Sindh, Dr Irshad Kazmi stressed the need to sensitize general public regarding HIV/AIDS so that stigma about this disease could be reduced.
HIV/AIDS is not a pandemic like COVID-19 but due to misperception created by our society, the majority of the population used to hate people living with HIV and AIDS, Dr Irshad regretted while briefing media persons in a two-day workshop themed “Role of the Media in Strengthening HIV Response” started here on Thursday. He urged upon media persons to play a positive role in reducing stigmas related to HIV/AIDS, adding that people living with HIV could live their normal lives if properly getting treatment. He said the treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS was free of cost and the government, with the assistance of the global partners (UNAIDS, WHO, World Bank, UNFPA and others) was providing medicines and kits used in its treatment which could save lives of the virus carriers. He said the Sindh government, under the supervision of Communicable. Disease Control (CDC), has established (ART) centers at different hospitals of six major cities of the province, where registered virus carrier persons are being provided treatment. Giving details of these centers, Dr Kazmi said out of 16 ART centers seven are established in different hospitals of Karachi while rest are functional in major public sector hospitals of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah), Sukkur and Larkana.
In Karachi, one each adult, Paeds and prevention from parent to child transmission (PPTCT) respectively while one each adult ART centre are available at Agha Khan, Indus and Lyari General hospital, Dr. Kazmi said in his presentation. He said one each adult Anti-Retroviral Treatment center was functioning at civil hospital Hyderabad, civil hospital Mirpurkhas, People’s Medical College hospital Nawabshah and Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College Sukkur respectively while three ART centers are operational in two major hospitals of Larkana (CMC and Shaikh Zaid hospitals). Due to the recent HIV outbreak, a three-window center was established at Ratodero town of Larkana district for providing treatment to the registered people living with HIV, Dr Kazmi said and added that this three-window centre was providing treatment to adult, prevention from parent to child as well as HIV carrier children. He urged the media to create awareness among the general public to reduce stigma about this disease as it was not as communicable as COVID-19, TB and some other infectious diseases.
While giving data of the HIV/AIDS cases, Dr Kazmi informed that around 78000 people in Sindh were living with HIV, of them only15968 are registered and only 13864 were receiving treatment from designated ART centres. Expressing concern over a large number of unregistered people living with HIV, Dr Kazmi said there was dire need to get all these people registered so that they could be provided proper treatment. The HIV carrier can live a normal life if he/she takes prescribed medicines regularly, Dr Kazmi said and added that with proper medication people living with HIV could also get married and give birth to normal children. Speaking at the workshop UNAIDS Representative Dr Rajwal, Ms Fahmida Khan and journalist Waqar Bhatti also shared their views with regard to prevention of
The spread of the virus. They were of the opinion that HIV/AIDS was not a pandemic and stigma about it must be reduced for creating an enabling environment for people living with HIV/AIDS. They called on media persons to use appropriate terminologies in their reports and articles on the topic so that misperception could be eliminated.
Source: The Nation
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