First reported HIV-positive cases among intravenous drug users

Pakistan's National Aids Control Programme (NACP) has confirmed nine new cases of HIV among drug users in the southern Sindh Province, the first to be detected among intravenous drug users in the country. "It is shocking, because this is the first time we have found HIV-positive people among drug users, and this is worrying," Sharaf Ali Shah, the head of the NACP in Sindh, told IRIN from the provincial capital, Karachi, on Thursday. According to Shah, the cases were discovered following the testing of a prisoner who was using heroin in jail in Larkana, some 300 km north of Karachi. The police reacted to this one case by rounding up some 60 drug addicts and carrying out HIV tests on them over the past week. "The HIV- positive people will be taken to a rehabilitation centre in Lahore [Punjab Province], where they can be taken care of properly," he explained. Aid workers estimate there are 80,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Pakistan's population of 145 million. However, official figures are much lower. Towards the end of last year, 1,942 cases of HIV and 231 of full-blown AIDS were reported to the NACP. The government authority is also liaising with international organisations to help those found to be HIV positive, as resources to treat them are scarce in the country. "The NACP has sought our assistance, and we are in the process of continuing our dialogue with them to give them guidance," Dr D.C. Jayasuriya, the country programme adviser for UNAIDS in Pakistan, told IRIN in Islamabad. The treatment of people with HIV is also of concern in this deeply Islamic society, where they automatically become isolated. "There is certainly a need for the concerned agencies to take this incident seriously," he added. The NACP initially concentrated on the development of laboratory services and surveillance, but later gave high priority to the development of a programme of management structure and strengthening of the NACP at the federal and provincial levels. Provincial implementation units for AIDS control and safe blood use have been established in four provinces and two federally administered areas. In addition to this, a comprehensive awareness strategy has been implemented, and 39 countrywide surveillance and diagnosis centres have been established. "There is a lot of ignorance about this disease, and we need to raise awareness among people about HIV/AIDS as this is the only way the prevent a crisis," Shah maintained.