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The United Nations says though Pakistan has a low prevalence of AIDS, yet, it is considered as one of the high-risk countries. |
Myra, 22, a mother of two, says she didn't know about the disease of her husband till his death. "I came to know when one of his friends came to our house to condole my husband's death," she said of her husband's friend who had been his co-worker abroad.
According to Dr. Zaheer Khan, a WHO Program Officer for HIV/AIDS in Pakistan, "Most of the registered AIDS patients are deported persons from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Middle Eastern countries. The deported persons then infect their wives and other sex partners because they didn't inform anyone of their diseases."
Established in 1987, the National AIDS Control Program has registered 5000 HIV/AIDS patients in Pakistan. The WHO says the number of unreported carriers could be in the neighborhood of 90,000. According to UNAIDS, Pakistan has an estimated 96,000 cases of HIV/AIDS showing 0.1 per cent prevalence. It says the count for women aged 15 and up will be between 27,000 to 42,000.
Denial
In March, 2009, three persons died from AIDS in Kurram district, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. They had been deported from the UAE in December 2008 for being HIV-positive.
"The people tend to conceal the disease because HIV/AIDS is regarded as a sex-borne ailment and hence its victims were looked down upon by the people in a Muslim-dominant society," said Khan.
"We have been urging the government to ask the foreign countries to inform it about the deportation of its citizens on account of HIV/AIDS, so the families could be protected," said Sajjad Ali of the NGO Bright, which is campaigning for the rights of the HIV/AIDS patients.
"About 577 patients of the total 5000 had been registered for HIV/AIDS treatment at the nine antiretroviral therapy centers set up in the country in 2003 with the assistance of WHO. Patients aren't coming because they are hiding their diseases," said Dr. Rohullah Jan, manager of the AIDS control program in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The United Nations says that although Pakistan has a low prevalence of AIDS, it is considered one of the high-risk countries. Besides immigrant workers, other risk factors include intravenous drug users (IDUs), prostitution, the use of non sterilized surgical and dental instruments, and the re-use of discarded disposable syringes.
The situation in all four provinces - NWFP, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh - is identical where AIDS patients are denied social acceptance, Ali explained.
A Pakistani, who worked as a tailor in Dubai, was deported in August 2008 because he tested positive for HIV in medical screening, which is mandatory for visa renewal. Workers with HIV are deported straight away without being allowed to take luggage from home, he claimed.
The Health Secretary of the NWFP, which is home to 565 HIV/AIDS patients, says, "They should inform the Pakistan government about the expulsion of HIV patients so that others can be protected from infections. The nonexistence of screening facilities at airports has exacerbated the fears of infections among patients' wives and children."
Lack of Awareness
Two women were diagnosed positive at the Pakistan Medical Research Centre in July last year. Both had gotten the infection from their deported husbands.
The story of other woman is no different. "My husband died of loose [bowel] motions, but later doctors told us that he had full-blown AIDS," Shaheena Bibi of Peshawar told IOL. She said that her one-year-old son is also HIV-positive.
"I request the government to take up this issue with the foreign countries to save the unwary people of infection," she added.
Many people avoid visiting doctors for HIV tests, but are referred whenever they happen to seek treatment for other diseases.
The story of Raeesa Bibi of Charsadda in the NWFP is lamentable. When she underwent an operation for miscarriage at the hospital the doctors didn't know she had the virus. "An HIV test emerged positive," Dr. Fayyaz Ali said, explaining that such patients pose a danger of infection to those undergoing operations in the same operating theaters.
Local pathologists say that about 20 HIV/AIDS cases are recorded every month in the NWFP alone, who had been deported after testing positive in the UAE and the Middle East.
Dr. Muzaffar Tareen, a clinical sexologist, who has a degree from California in sexually transmitted diseases, said the deported people are aware of the disease. But they often keep it secret, and transmit it to their unsuspecting wives and children. He said the workers living abroad away from their wives often end up in risky sexual behavior, including commercial sex.
Tareen says that a woman married a 36-year-old driver who had been deported from the UAE in November 2006, and died of AIDS one year later. His wife and a 13-year-old son are being denied treatment because even the medical professionals lacked awareness about the disease. Doctors there thought they could get infected if they touched them.
"I came across several doctors who hesitated to touch HIV/AIDS patients, despite knowing that it didn't spread through handshake or touching the infected persons," he deplores.
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