According to the World Health Organisation reports, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) cause lasting damage to reproductive health in particular. For example, the damage STDs cause to the Fallopian tubes can result in infertility.

One of the leading STDs that result in symptomatic Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) is chlamydia. If left untreated, 10 to 40 per cent of women suffering from chlamydial infections can develop PID. Complications and post-infection damage from this and other STDs are responsible for 30 to 40 per cent of infertility cases. If a woman contracts chlamydia during pregnancy, there are health risks for both her and the infant after delivery. Similar is the case with early syphilis, which, if left untreated in a pregnant woman, is responsible for one in four stillbirths and 14 of neonatal (newborn) deaths.

One of the deadliest sexually transmitted infections is the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Virtually all cervical cancer cases are linked to genital infection with this virus. Cancer of the cervix is the second most common cancer in women, with about 500,000 new cases and 250,000 deaths each year. The new vaccine that prevents the infection could reduce these cervical cancer-related deaths.

Genorrhoea is also an easily contracted STD which accounts for 88 million new cases of curable STDs that occur globally each year. The total number, according to World Health Organisation, is 448 million, in which syphilis, chlamydia and trichomoniasis are included. In fact, a 2011 WHO fact sheet warns of emergence in multi-drug resistant bacteria that results in genorrhoea and the threat of a global rise in untreatable sexually transmitted infections.

According to informative literature provided by the NGO, Aahung, that works on sexual health issues, Pakistan is regarded as a “low prevalence, high-risk” country as far as Aids is concerned. This means that while the number of cases may still be relatively low, the stage is set for an epidemic unless transmission is prevented.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated in 2007 that 96,000 Pakistanis were HIV positive, which is approximately 0.1 per cent of the population. But it is commonsense that people are neither screened enough, nor are all cases reported. In 2010, the National Aids Control Programme (NACP) reported that the number had risen to an estimated 97,400 HIV cases.

Among reported infections, heterosexual sex is the primary mode of transmission, accounting for 67 per cent of infections. Most-at-risk Populations (MARPs) include IV Drug users (IDUs), homosexuals, those who have undergone blood transfusions with inadequate blood screening and migrant communities. Less than 16 percent of IDUs and sex workers have been tested for HIV and know their results and are at high risk of spreading the virus to their spouses or partners. —F.Z.M.