UNICEF estimates there are 150,000 HIV cases in Pakistan
By Shahzad Raza
ISLAMABAD: There were between 24,000 and 150,000 HIV positive cases in Pakistan in 2003, according to a UNICEF report, ‘The State of the World’s Children 2005’.The report says there is an 0.1 percent prevalence rate of HIV in Pakistan among adults, people between the age of 15 and 49, but did not say what the prevalence rate was for people outside that age range.Qamarul Islam Siddiqui, the deputy programme manager for the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), told Daily Times that NACP and World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates put the number of HIV cases in Pakistan at around 80,000.
He said UNICEF had its own formula and procedure to assess the prevalence rate and calculate the number of HIV cases. He said the HIV prevalence rate in Pakistan was increasing. At a recent international conference on HIV/AIDS in Islamabad, Health Minister Nasir Khan said that there were 2,462 registered HIV and 286 registered AIDS patients in Pakistani hospitals.The UNICEF report said that globally, five million people got HIV in 2003, of which 2.5 million were below the age of 25. “By 2003, 15 million children under the age of 18 had been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Millions more live in households with sick and dying family members,” it added.The report said that around 4.8 million children were orphaned in 2003 due to all causes, but did not say how many of these were due to HIV/AIDS. It said HIV/AIDS deprives children of their rights. Food consumption in an AIDS-affected household can drop by as much as 40 percent, leaving children at higher risk of malnutrition and stunted growth.The report observed that two-thirds of caregivers in households surveyed in a recent study in South Africa were female, with almost a quarter of them over the age of 60. Female-headed households generally assume the care of more orphans than those headed by males, often compounding their own poverty.
Children or adolescents are often forced to assume the burden of caring for sick parents or for their younger siblings. The proportion of households officially headed by children is still small - less than one percent in most countries.The report observed that orphaned children are much more likely than non-orphans to be working in commercial agriculture, domestic service, commercial sex and as street vendors.More than half the orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean are adolescents. Children in this age group are more vulnerable to HIV infection, not least because psychosocial and economic distress can lead to risky sexual behaviour and substance abuse.The UNICEF report stated that at the end of 2003, only 17 countries with generalised HIV/AIDS epidemics reported having a national policy for orphans and vulnerable children to guide strategic decision-making and resource allocation.The report suggested strengthening of the protective environment for children at every level, from the family right through to the level of national and international legislation.It called for dedicating funds to support programmes for orphans and vulnerable children, who currently receive only a small proportion of overall HIV/AIDS funding. The organisation said the adults must be kept alive by increasing access to antiretroviral therapy and raising awareness of HIV/AIDS. It emphasised upon the prevention of new infections among children by applying and scaling up proven techniques and interventions. It demanded elimination of poverty and conflict, which interact with HIV/AIDS to magnify the negative impact on childhood.
