Abstract
Pakistan, the second most populous Muslim nation in the world, has started to finally experience and confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The country had been relatively safe from any indigenous HIV cases for around two decades, with most of the infections being attributable to deported HIV positive migrants from the Gulf States. However, the virus finally seems to have found a home-base, as evidenced by the recent HIV outbreaks among the injection drug user community. Extremely high-risk behavior has also been documented among Hijras (sex workers) and long-distance truck drivers. The weak government response coupled with the extremely distressing social demographics of this South-Asian republic also helps to compound the problem. The time is ripe now to prepare in advance, to take the appropriate measures to curtail further spread of the disease. If this opportunity is not utilized right now, little if at all could be done later.
Highlights
Pakistan, the world's second most populous Muslim nation, has started to experience and confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic
The other route alludes to expatriates or Pakistanis settled abroad
Decades of corruption and poor planning of resources have translated into a fight for Pakistan's very own continued existence
Summary
The world's second most populous Muslim nation, has started to experience and confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In the remote desert town of Larkana, the HIV bubble-burst took place amongst the injection drug user (IDU) community What this basically meant was that the virus had found a home-base, as evidenced later by outbreaks all over the nation [5]. Decades of corruption and poor planning of resources have translated into a fight for Pakistan's very own continued existence Keeping this in mind and the horde of other problems currently encountering Pakistan, any efforts directed towards prevention and control of HIV/ AIDS are quite laudable. Worth mentioning is the organization, 'AMAL,' which means 'action' in Pakistan's national language, Urdu It has outreach HIV training programs focusing on IDU and for the out-of-the-limelight population, female sex workers. Keeping in mind the poor healthcare facilities, the appallingly low literacy rate (in 2001, the illiteracy rate for Pakistani women over 15-year old was 72%) [17], and a mushrooming population (growth rate of Pakistan lies at 2.5%) [17], the stakes for a battle against HIV are very low
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