New cases of HIV among drug users

A further eight new HIV positive cases have been identified among intravenous drug users (IDUs) in Pakistan's southern Sindh Province, bringing the total to 17. The first nine were detected in June after a prisoner in the local jail of Larkana, 300 km from the port city of Karachi, tested positive. The prisoner was an IDU and was placed in jail after being rounded up by police along with other drug users in Larkana. Subsequently 100 prisoners who were jailed for drug and petty offences were tested. "All but three of the 17 HIV positive people have been sent to a rehabilitation centre in Lahore," head of the Sindh AIDS Control Programme, Sharaf Ali Shah, told IRIN from Karachi. "The three remaining have serious charges made against them and we are negotiating with the authorities to see if they can be taken out," he added. Although a harm reduction programme was in place in Sindh, efforts have been beefed up since the discovery of the HIV positive cases among drug users. "This is the first time that we have found HIV positive cases among IDUs, but this is not by any means unusual if you look at global trends," Shah said. The patients were transported to Lahore with the help of the Pakistan-based Nai Zindagi NGO. "There has been a very slow response to this case and the patients have suffered as a result," the head of Nai Zindagi, Tariq Zaffar, told IRIN in Islamabad. "The families of those who tested HIV positive were hounded after they were forced to talk to the media and displayed on television, and the damage has been done," he added. He maintained that this incident had forced IDUs underground, isolating them and preventing them from seeking help or advice. Zaffar said the HIV positive patients were living in isolation and shunned by the prison authorities in Larkana due to misconceptions over how the disease can be caught. "The prison officers refused to go anywhere near them because they thought they would catch the HIV virus," he said. To address the issue of sensitivity when reporting on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Children's Fund is due to hold a workshop for journalists in Larkana to discuss issues of confidentiality for HIV patients. In addition, UNAIDS is organising a national consultation in August bringing together various groups including representatives from the government, provincial AIDS programme managers, NGOs and civil society groups. "We are working on establishing a rehabilitation centre in Larkana," Dr D.C. Jayasuriya, the country programme advisor for UNAIDS, told IRIN in Islamabad. "We have been working closely with all the concerned agencies and NGOs since the first cases were reported in June to ensure that they are dealt with properly," he said. With the increasing number of HIV positive cases in Larkana, Zaffar called for more action to be taken to prevent the disease from infecting more people. "The disease is spreading as we speak and there are no adequate resources to deal with it," he said. There are currently 1,942 HIV positive cases and 231 of full-blown AIDS, with IDUs being one of the highest risk groups due to their needle sharing practices. However, health experts in the country estimate the number of HIV positive people to be up to 80,000. Shah said that 2,500 high risk people had been tested for HIV since June in Karachi, Sukkur and Hyderabad, also in Sindh in response to the HIV positive cases found in Larkana. However, he called for better medical facilities in the country. "We don't have the funding for antiretroviral drugs, which can make a big difference for HIV positive people and reduce their symptoms, enabling them to go back to work," he stressed.