More than 1800 people die of AIDS everyday worldwide: Awareness session 

KARACHI: The Continuous Medical Education Department of Jinnah Sindh Medical University organised an awareness session on HIV-AIDS in collaboration with the Communicable Disease Control (HIV-AIDS) with the purpose of providing complete and comprehensive information related to HIV-AIDS to medical students and future doctors.

In this regard, Vice-Chancellor Prof Amjad Siraj Memon said that being HIV positive does not necessarily mean that the infected person is an AIDS patient, it may take 9 to 10 years for the HIV virus to develop into AIDS and during this time the infected person can lead a normal life. It is also possible that the virus does not develop into AIDS.

Dr Saima Mushtaq Sheikh, Provincial Treatment Coordinator of Communicable Disease Control (HIV-AIDS) of Health Department Sindh and guest speaker of the session, said that according to statistics, so far 79.3 million people have been infected with HIV worldwide. Of these, 36.3 million people have died due to AIDS, this virus is diagnosed in 1.5 million people worldwide every year and 6 lakh 80 thousand people die, which is an average of 1800 deaths per day. In Pakistan, she further said, HIV prevalence is estimated to be less than 1% in the general population, with 165,000 HIV-positive people.

"if a doctor or nurse mistakenly gets an injection while treating a patient, instead of panicking, he/she should wash the area with water and consult a doctor within 72 hours", she added.

Dr Sher Khan Junejo, Deputy Director of Communicable Disease Control (HIV-AIDS) Health Department Sindh, who played a key role in organising the session, appreciated the efforts of Vice Chancellor Professor Amjad Siraj Memon, Registrar Dr Azam Khan and Additional Director CME Dr Rahat Naz in organising the session while Registrar Dr Azam Khan thanked the honorable guests for taking the time to provide useful information and awareness to the students on the important issue.

Dr Rahat Naz, Additional Director of CME, said that the purpose of this awareness session was to inform the medical, dental, and nursing students of Jinnah Sindh Medical University about how to avoid syringes being used by patients in the future and what precautions should be taken to prevent the spread of this virus. 

Dr Sajid, ART in-charge of Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center, gave detailed answers to the questions asked by the students. Dr Fahad from DPT and Sumita Gill from Nursing participated in the session along with their students. Wajid Warsi and Murtaza from CME also attended the session. It should be noted that World AIDS Day is celebrated worldwide on December 1. The theme for 2022 is "Equalize".