SACP begins treatment of 350 HIV patients

KARACHI: The Sindh AIDS Control Program (SACP) has started the treatment of 350 HIV registered patients, including 250 children, in Larkana and Ratodero after confirmation.

An official at the Sindh AIDS Control Program told that the screening of the people was being conducted through District Health Officers in different districts of the province. He informed that the DHOs, in collaboration with SACP teams, had conducted the screening of the residents of Naushahro Feroze, Sujawal, Shikarpur, Mithi, and Liaquatabad area of Karachi.

The SACP had started treatment of 350 HIV registered patients out of which 250 were children, and 100 were adults after double checking. The SACP teams had successfully screened more than 28,600 people in Larkana, Ratodero and its adjoining areas; however, 816 suspected HIV cases were detected during blood screening.

Unfortunately, 672 suspected HIV patients are children, while 144 are adults. The majority of HIV positive patients include children of ages 1 to 5 years.

A total of 16,115 people have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Sindh province so far out of which 15,876 are HIV patients, and 239 are AIDS patients. The treatment of 10,000 registered patients is underway through the Sindh AIDS Control Program.

An estimated 131,000 HIV/AIDS infected people are living in Pakistan, out of which 56,000 are in Sindh.