KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples’ Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on Sunday said that the Sindh government will set up an endowment fund for lifetime treatment of those affected by HIV.
In a series of tweets after visiting HIV screening camps in Ratodero, the PPP chairman said HIV was not a death sentence and urged the people not to fuel stigmatization.
“The conflation of HIV & AIDS is fueling stigmatisation of the most vulnerable people in Pakistan. This cannot and should not be tolerated. I stand by my fellow Pakistanis who have contracted HIV, be they in Ratodero, Swabi, Sargodha or Turbat.”
From the Sindh HIV and AIDS Control and Prevention Bill 2013 to the free distribution of contraceptives, Sindh has and will continue to pass and enact the most progressive legislation and programs to protect the most vulnerable, he further said.
The provincial government is carrying out aggressive screenings where 22,900 people have been tested. [We] must destigmatise HIV by spreading awareness, he requested.
“We will set up an endowment fund for lifetime treatment of those affected. We will not abandon our brothers, sisters and children.”
