Abstract
Pakistan is among four countries in Asia where the estimated number of new HIV infections has been increasing year by year ever since 1990. The Asian Epidemic Modelling (AEM), conducted in 2015, reconfirmed that the use of contaminated injection equipment among people who inject drugs (PWID) remains the main mode of HIV transmission in the country. The estimated number of PWID ranges from 104,804 to 420,000 PWID. HIV prevalence in this population is above 40 % in several cities, including Faisalabad (52.5 %), D.G. Khan (49.6 %), Gujrat (46.2 %), Karachi (42.2 %) and Sargodha (40.6 %), respectively. Harm reduction service delivery is being implemented through a public-private partnership led by the National and Provincial AIDS Control Programmes and Nai Zindagi with funding support from the Global Fund. Current programmatic coverage of the needle and syringe programme, HIV testing and counselling and antiretroviral treatment among PWID remain insufficient to control ongoing transmission of HIV in the country. While opioid substitution therapy (OST) is yet to be introduced, significant progress and coordination among various ministries have taken place recently to register buprenorphine in the dosage required for treatment of opioid dependence, and possible introduction of OST will greatly facilitate adherence to antiretroviral treatment among PWID living with HIV.
Highlights
It has been nearly 30 years since the first AIDS case was diagnosed in Pakistan in 1986 [1]
Pakistan is among four countries in Asia, along with Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, where the HIV epidemic is expanding with a number of new HIV infections higher each year than the previous year with an estimated 15,606 new infections in 2014 alone
According to the 2014 World Drug Report by United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), while it has been estimated that an average of 13.1 % of people who inject drugs (PWID) worldwide are living with HIV, HIV prevalence in this population is highest in South-West Asia (28.8 %), followed by Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (23.0 %), respectively, and the high
Summary
It has been nearly 30 years since the first AIDS case was diagnosed in Pakistan in 1986 [1]. According to the 2014 World Drug Report by United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), while it has been estimated that an average of 13.1 % of people who inject drugs (PWID) worldwide are living with HIV, HIV prevalence in this population is highest in South-West Asia (28.8 %), followed by Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (23.0 %), respectively, and the high
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