ISLAMABAD: Nayyar Bibi, a married woman, has been suffering from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (Aids) since 2006. She has been using medicine to reduce the affects of Aids.

“I had Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) because of blood transmission as management of a hospital did not bother to test the blood for HIV,” she said while taking to Dawn on World Aids Day.

“My husband is HIV negative and he has no problem with my disease. We take precautionary measure that he (husband) would not be infected because of my disease,” she said.

“Most of the people try to hide the disease due to which not only do they face difficulties but because of them other people also suffer. I take medicine after every 12 hours due to which HIV virus has not affected my health,” she said.

I have established a non-government organisation, Association of People Living with HIV (APLHIV), to create awareness among people.

While replying to a question, Ms Nayyar said that with the passage of time things are changing and now some people have started getting treatment but still a large number do not disclose that they are affected with HIV.

An official of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) requesting anonymity said that as many as 285 people, including five children, affected by HIV were registered in the current year.

It is pertinent to mention that in the month of July the National Assembly Subcommittee on National Health Services, chaired by MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, was informed that there were 83,443 HIV infected people in Pakistan but out of them only 9,917 were registered with hospitals.

The committee was further informed that people try to hide that they are infected with HIV and only 4,985 registered people affected by HIV were getting treatment from hospitals.

Pims official said that since 2004 as many as 1,986 people affected by HIV have been registered but it cannot be confirmed as to how many of them are alive because people stop visiting without any reason.

“Eighty per cent of the registered patients were men. Moreover out of over all registered patients 60 per cent were intravenous drug users,” he said.

“People who are detected with HIV during different tests just leave the hospital without registering themselves. Most of the people who were registered were brought by non-government organisations,” he said.

“As many as 90 per cent of those who have been registered with HIV were also affected with Hepatitis C,” he said.

Media coordinator Pims Dr Waseem Khawaja, while talking to Dawn, said although free treatment and medicine was provided to people affected by HIV, patients hesitate to come and get themselves registered.

“Persons affected with HIV are requested to visit the hospital between 8am to 2pm and get free of cost treatment and medicines. Moreover those who have constant fever, diarrhea and suffer weight loss, should come to the hospital and have a test of HIV which is also free,” he said.

“HIV causes a condition in humans due to which their immune system against diseases fails. So a patient suffers from different diseases and cancers at the same time,” he said.

“If a person affected by HIV does not get treatment his average survival time is about 10 years but the life span can be increased if a patient gets medicine and treatment,” he said.

HIV occurs through transfer of contaminated blood and using syringe of an infected person. It can also be transferred from mother to child if she feeds milk. Moreover people should limit their life partners to avoid HIV turns into Aids.

According to the official statement of the World Health Organisation, the Eastern Mediterranean Region comprising 22 countries including Pakistan is using the slogan, ‘HIV treatment controls the virus. Treat for Life. Prevent for Life’.

WHO Regional Director Dr Ala Alwan, in his statement, has said HIV treatment reduced the virus to undetectable levels, and protected people against diseases.

“Effective HIV treatment will help people living with HIV avoid the transmission of their infection to their uninfected partners. Similarly, once the level of their infection has become undetectable, pregnant women living with HIV can give birth without passing the virus on to their babies,” he added.

The statement says that Pakistan falls under the category of a high-risk but low prevalence country for HIV-Aids.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2014