ISLAMABAD: Nayyar Bibi has had Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (Aids) for 10 years and has been taking medicines to reduce her symptoms. She said she has seen an improvement in her condition every day.

“In the beginning I would take three tablets in the morning and three at night. Because of improvements, I now take just a tablet every day.”

About how she contracted the illness she told Dawn: “I had a blood transfusion and the hospital staff had not bothered to test the blood they were giving me for HIV.”

Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram says 94,000 people in Pakistan were HIV positive but only 14,000 were registered

Her husband has tested HIV negative and according to Nayyar Bibi, he has no problem with her illness. “We take precautionary measures to ensure my husband does not get Aids from me.”

Ms Nayyar also has two daughters, a four and three-year-old, and they too are HIV free. She said she took her medicines and was cautious throughout her pregnancies so her daughters will not get the disease in-utero.

Ms Nayyar said the reason she was suffering from the illness was because people, including those working in health departments, are not aware of HIV and of measures against it.

“I am faced with this situation because the hospital staff made a mistake. That is why I am trying to increase awareness about the disease,” Ms Nayyar told Dawn.

Ms Nayyar is among the few to have come out and sought treatment. Due to the stigma attached to the disease, many patients hide their ailment.

This very issue was the highlight of the seminar held at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on World Aids Day on Tuesday.

Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Saira Afzal Tarar said in a lot of instances, people were reluctant to get treated because of so-called religious constraints.

“Many girls contract the disease because they go to a dentist who uses unsterilised tools. Their parents still try to hide this and don’t even get their daughters treated to avoid them being registered.

“Most of our time is spent on trying to convince people that getting treated, vaccinated or adopting precautionary measures is not un-Islamic,” she said.

Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram said it was high time to sensitise the people about HIV.

“We are making efforts to do so, but a lot more needs to be done. HIV should not be taken any differently than blood pressure, diabetes and other such diseases. Although the illness is not as prevalent at the time in the country, people in Pakistan are at high risk because they don’t know much about the disease,” he added.

He revealed that some 94,000 people in Pakistan were HIV positive, however, only 14,000 had been registered and of these, just 7,000 were getting treated at government centres. He said some 2,200 patients were registered at Pims.

Addressing participants of the seminar, UNAIDS Country Director Dr Mamadou L. Sakho said: “On World Aids Day, we should vow to implement the UNAIDS Fast-Track strategy that aims to end the HIV epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.”

UN Resident Coordinator Lola Castro said the world body was working with the government and assured the Ministry of NHS of the UN’s support in addressing the stigma, and discrimination, associated with HIV and Aids.

The National Aids Control Programme manager, Dr Abdul Baseer Khan Achakzai, agreed and said people should not treat those suffering from HIV with hatred.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2015