Punjab is hosting about 80,000 or more Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients. According to the report exposed by private media around 133,529 people are infected in Pakistan.
Discussing disease like Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is considered a taboo. People as a substitute to fight with this issue associate this disease with sexual misconduct.
Though the health department has begun challenging awareness campaigns to educate the masses about the disease, as per their claims. The progress reported so far is very low.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) President Professor Ajmal Hasan Naqvi elaborated that blood transfusion is the major cause due to which people mostly get infected with HIV. Other reasons can be organ or tissue transplant from an HIV-infected donor or have unprotected sex with an HIV infected person.
He pointed that health department, civil society, and NGOs should hold the responsibility to create awareness among the common people, otherwise, shallow media campaigns are useless.
Several steps had been taken including registration of barbers and establishment of clinics across Punjab to cut the threat according to the health department spokesperson.
However, Punjab University Social and Behavioral Science Dean Professor Zakria Zakar said that the steps were not enough to cope with the virus. He said government will have to take it as a top priority as the situation was alarming, and the deadly disease will be affecting our young generation.