- Eight people, including seven kids, diagnosed as HIV positive
The news from Shikarpur district in northern Sindh is chilling. Tests of 517 people in four of its villages have shown seven children and a woman as HIV positive. This merely adds to the 157 children in 185 people who tested positive for HIV in Rato Dero in Larkana district. This alone would form a public health crisis of overwhelming proportions, but the authorities in Shikarpur, where a total of 22 people have tested positive, have taken the rather lame decisions of further testing, and raising awareness to prevent the spread.
Perhaps some of the speculation among a doctor who spread the dread disease deliberately in Rato Dero was fulfilled by a desire to put the blame on a single evil personality, rather than on a healthcare system with inherent flaws. There would be a political motive, as the cases have emerged so far in a province governed by the opposition PPP. However, one prevailing factor seems to be unsafe injections, with the infection caused by used syringes is common. There are cases where unregistered clinics are run by quacks, and there are unregistered maternity clinics as well. The PPP has held office since 2008, and the current Health Minister is not just well-connected, but a qualified doctor. For such a terrible health crisis to have occurred is not a healthy sign. The problem is that it is not clear whether the problem is limited to two districts, or more districts within the province are affected. Only further testing will tell.
The real problem is that the Sindh healthcare system is no worse than that in the rest of the country. Testing may reveal that other provinces, especially their rural areas, may also have a high rate of infection, because the problems that led to the horrific scenario in Sindh, exist in the rest of the country. A systematic survey is needed to determine the extent of the problem first, and then will come the means of tackling it. AIDS was once feared for Pakistan, and there is still a social stigma attached to it, but stigmas and taboos have become meaningless in the face of the human tragedy that is unfolding in Sindh.
